Tuesday, July 21, 2009

DTN News: India Sees Delay In French Scorpene Submarine Delivery

DTN News: India Sees Delay In French Scorpene Submarine Delivery
*Source: DTN News / Defense Media
(NSI News Source Info) NEW DELHI, India - July 21, 2009: Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony told parliament July 20 that he expected a delay in the scheduled delivery of six Franco-Spanish Scorpene submarines for the Indian navy. In 2005, India chose the Scorpène' design; purchasing six for US$ 3 billion (US$500m per boat). These submarines are to be manufactured under a technology transfer agreement by the state-owned Mazgoan Docks in Mumbai and delivered between 2010 and 2015. Construction started on 23 May 2007. Antony's statement came as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh readied to flag off sea trials of India's first nuclear-powered submarine off Vishakapatnam port in southern Andhra Pradesh state. Antony, replying to questions, blamed the expected delay on "problems in the absorption of technology" by a domestic shipyard assembling the attack submarines in western India. The first Scorpene was originally scheduled to be delivered in 2012, with one ship per year from 2013 through 2017. Antony did not provide a fresh timetable. In October 2005, India signed contracts worth 2.4 billion euros ($3 billion) with Armaris, which is owned by France's Thales, and European defense firm MBDA to buy the six submarines. The deal is a technology transfer agreement. French naval group Direction des Compagnies Navales (DCN) is producing key equipment unavailable at Indian shipyards. India's first nuclear-powered submarine, to be named INS Arihant (Destroyer of Enemies), is part of planned fleet of five such submarines which will offer India an underwater nuclear launch capability. The 7,000-ton Arihant will put India alongside Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States in the club of nations with such vessels.

DTN News: Japan Prime Minister Dissolves Parliament Ahead Of Election

DTN News: Japan Prime Minister Dissolves Parliament Ahead Of Election *Source: DTN News / AFP (NSI News Source Info) TOKYO, Japan - July 21, 2009: Japan's unpopular Prime Minister Taro Aso dissolved parliament Tuesday, paving the way for an election late next month seen likely to end his party's more than half century of almost unbroken rule. Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso bows as he attends the House of Representatives plenary session to approve his dissolution of the parliament in Tokyo. Japan's unpopular premier dissolved parliament paving the way for an election late next month seen likely to end his party's more than half century of almost unbroken rule. The embattled Aso, who is lagging badly in opinion polls and has struggled to quell internal party revolt, offered a rare apology to his conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) for the government's sagging support. "My statements and what have been characterised as my changing policy positions have led the Japanese people to worry about and grow distrustful of politics," Aso said shortly before the lower house was dissolved. "As a result, the approval rating for the Liberal Democratic Party has fallen. I am deeply sorry," said the 68-year-old premier. Several recent surveys have put support for Aso in the high teens, and most pundits expect the main opposition group, the as yet untested Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), to win the general election on August 30. Aso's LDP lost four percentage points to 20 percent from two weeks ago while support for the DPJ rose by six points to 31 percent, according to the latest poll, conducted by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper at the weekend. A succession of local election defeats, most recently in key Tokyo assembly polls this month, has prompted rebel members of the LDP to try to push Aso out of power so the party can face the election under another leader. The premier's allies and party leaders have tried to ease the internal dispute, and Aso on Tuesday vowed to stay on as party chief, but discontent is simmering among many ruling party lawmakers who are likely to lose their seats. Aso -- a political blueblood from a top industrial family, known for his gruff demeanor -- tried his best to rally the troops Tuesday. "Let me express my determination to lead all of you to fight the current tough situation," Aso told his fellow LDP lawmakers. "My sole wish is that all of our candidates here for the lower house election shall return to this place. To achieve this goal, there is no other way but to form a united front and fight together." Aso was to face the press later in the day. The premier -- who took office in September as the world's number two economy was sliding deep into recession amid the global downturn -- was likely to highlight his economic stimulus measures in appealing to voters. The DPJ, led by fellow political blueblood and US university trained engineer Yukio Hatoyama, has promised reforms, including strengthening social welfare and reducing the influence of the powerful state bureacracy. "This general election is not only about ending the LDP's rule," Hatoyama told a news conference. "This is an important revolutionary vote to create a new Japan with politician-led politics. "We need to tackle the election with the sense of a historic mission." Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano charged that a giddy DPJ was already "opening a bottle of champagne and celebrating" every night, challenging them to offer a detailed policy platform and explain how it would be financed. The LDP has governed Japan continuously since the party's foundation in 1955, except for one 10-month stretch in the early 1990s. But the party has suffered a leadership crisis in recent years, electing three prime ministers since the popular Junichiro Koizumi stepped down in 2006. The LDP lost to the DPJ in a 2007 upper house election. Since then, the opposition has controlled the less powerful upper house. Before the dissolution, Aso's LDP held 303 seats in the lower house with 31 held by its sole coalition partner, New Komeito. The opposition DPJ had 112 seats, the Communist Party nine, and the Social Democratic Party seven.

DTN News: Singaporean Model Gets Caning / Muslim Woman To Be Flogged In Malaysia Over Beer

DTN News: Singaporean Model Gets Caning / Muslim Woman To Be Flogged In Malaysia Over Beer
(NSI News Source Info) KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - July 21, 2009: A RELIGIOUS court in Malaysia has sentenced a tearful Singaporean Muslim model to six strokes of the cane after she drank beer in a nightclub, reports said on Tuesday. Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno (above), 32, pleaded guilty to consuming alcohol at a hotel nightclub in the eastern state of Pahang last year. -- PHOTO: THE STAR Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, 32, pleaded guilty to consuming alcohol at a hotel nightclub in the eastern state of Pahang last year, the New Straits Times newspaper reported. 'We feel the sentence is fair after going through the prosecution's argument and since the rotan (cane) is provided for in the law,' Pahang Sharia High Court judge Abdul Rahman Yunus said, according to the paper. 'The rotan is aimed at making the accused repent and serves as a lesson to Muslims,' he added, also fining Kartika RM5,000 (S$2,035). The model, who cried when the judgment was delivered, said she would appeal. State religious officials could not be reached for comment on the case. Malaysia, which has large Indian and Chinese minorities freely enjoying alcohol, has a two-track legal system. Civil courts operate alongside state-based syariah courts, which can try Muslims for religious offences.

DTN News: Israeli Border Police Officers Detain Jewish Settlers

DTN News: Israeli Border Police Officers Detain Jewish Settlers *Residents of West Bank settlement clash with IDF, Judea and Samaria police officers, as reports of violent acts stream in from Adi-Ad outpost, village of Burin, Shilo Junction
*Source: DTN News / Ynetnews By Efrat Weiss (NSI News Source Info) JERUSALEM, Israel - July 21, 2009: A series of violent incidents involving settlers swept through the West Bank Thursday, as dozens of settlers clashed with IDF and police forces, stoned cars and vandalized Palestinian property. Israeli border police officers detain a Jewish settler from the Yitzhar settlement who hurled stones at Palestinians, at the Hawara checkpoint near the West Bank city of Nablus, Monday July 20, 2009. Settlements built on captured lands claimed by the Palestinians have emerged as a major sticking point in relations between Israel and the Obama administration because of their potential to disrupt Mideast peacemaking. The gravest incident of the day occurred in the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar, when during the riot a settler was able to snatch a weapon away from an IDF soldier standing next to him and began firing in midair. A second settler began firing in midair as well. No injuries or damage were reported; both men were arrested. Earlier Thursday, the Judea and Samaria Police received reports of settlers rioting in the West Bank village of Burin, near Nablus. According to Palestinian reports, some 150 settlers attacked Palestinian farmers in the village, damaging crops and property. "This is a full fledged pogrom against the (Palestinian) residents here," a local Palestinian farmer told Ynet, adding that "the IDF soldiers are seeing all this happen and are doing nothing." Earlier still, Judea and Samaria police officers, who arrived at the illegal West Bank outpost of Adi-Ad to investigate building violations, found themselves in the midst of a riot, as residents of the nearby Yitzhar settlement began stoning their cars. One of the cars sustained some damage; none of the officers were hurt and the riot was dispersed. In a third incident, 20 other settlers reportedly made their way to the Shilo Junction – on Highway 60 – in the West Bank, where they blocked the road by setting several tires on fire. The perpetrators fled the scene upon the arrival of security forces. 'Army and police have decided to harass us' Former Kdumin Council Head Daniela Weiss justified the settlers' activity. "It's clear that as far as the youngsters are concerned, if one outpost is damaged, they will respond in several places in Judea and Samaria, and this is what happened." According to Weiss, "The army and police are planning to stop us from holding a five-day tour from Samaria to South Mount Hebron, because they don’t like it. They have decided to harass us and remove a vehicle from one of the hills where we planned to stay overnight. This won't help, and next week we'll embark on our trip in whatever way possible." The Yesh Din human rights group said in response that "the security forces' helplessness when in comes to enforcing the law and dealing with violent settlers in facilitating the creation of a terror infrastructure in the West Bank." The ongoing fight against building violations and illegal construction in Yizhar resulted in a violent clash between settlers and security forces last month; as a riot broke out, during the tearing down of an illegal structure in Havat Shaked within the settlements. Five police officers and 10 settlers were hurt in the riot; and eight settlers were arrested.

DTN News: Somalia's Islamists Ban UN Agencies Operations

DTN News: Somalia's Islamists Ban UN Agencies Operations *Source: DTN News / Int'l Media (NSI News Source Info) MOGADISHU, Somalia - July 21, 2009: Somalia's hardline Shebab militia said Monday they had banned the activities of three UN organisations in the country considered "enemies of Islam and Muslisms." Somali soldiers celebrate after capturing a stronghold of Islamic militants in Sinay district in Mogadishu Somalia on July 20, 2009. Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed on Sunday hailed a "clear victory" over Islamist rebels in a months-long battle to gain control of the capital, as the latest clashes left at least 21 dead. Hardline Islamists launched their latest offensive against the internationally backed administration of Sharif on May 7. Government forces began their counter-offensive on May 22. "As of 20-07-09 a number of NGOs and foreign agencies currently operating in Somalia will be completely closed down and considered enemies of Islam and Muslims," it said in a statement. The group singled out the United Nations Development Programme, UN Department of Safety and Security and the UN Political Office for Somalia. "The above foreign agencies have been found to be working against the benefit of the Somali Muslim population and against the establishment of an Islamic state in Somalia," it added. The statement from the Shebab's department of political affairs and regional administration said the decision was reached after "thorough research." Other accusations included "evidence of training and support for the apostate government and the training of its troops." The United Nations does not have permanent foreign staff in the war-ravaged country and runs programmes from neighbouring Kenya. Since plunging into cycles of violence with the 1991 ouster of president Mohamed Siad Barre, the Horn of Africa state has become one of the world's most dangerous places for foreign workers. Aid workers and foreign journalists have been increasingly targetted in recent years by ransom-hunting gunmen. At the weekend, three foreign aid workers were abducted by Somali gunmen during a raid in a Kenyan border town, while two French agencies are being held by the Shebab after being seized last week in Mogadishu. In March, the Shebab welcomed international aid groups to regions under their control to assist thousands of hunger-stricken people. The group controls much of southern and central Somalia. The Shebab's statement on Monday announced the setting up of an office to oversee the activities of NGOs and foreign agencies to which they must report to be "informed of conditions and restrictions on their work." The hardline militia and the more political Hizb al-Islam group launched an offensive in early May to oust the internationally-backed government of President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed. Hundreds of civilians are believed to have been killed while hundreds of thousand others forced out from their homes in the war-riven capital Mogadishu.

DTN News: Google Earth Adds Moon To Celebrate Apollo 11 Landing

DTN News: Google Earth Adds Moon To Celebrate Apollo 11 Landing *Thanks to its partnership with NASA, Google Earth has now includes the Moon.
*Source: DTN News / By Thomas Claburn InformationWeek (NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - July 21, 2009: To mark the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1969, Google on Monday released Moon in Google Earth, which allows users to explore lunar images and related lunar content. In a post on the official Google (NSDQ: GOOG) blog, Anousheh Ansari, the first female private space explorer and a trustee of the XPRIZE Foundation, says the software will help millions of people learn about space. "Moon in Google Earth enables you to explore lunar imagery as well as informational content about the Apollo landing sites, panoramic images shot by the Apollo astronauts, narrated tours and much more," she explains. "I believe that this educational tool is a critical step into the future, a way to both develop the dreams of young people globally, and inspire new audacious goals." Four years ago to the day, Google launched Google Moon, a way to explore the Moon using its Web-based Google Maps service rather than Google Earth, a desktop application. There's also a Google Maps-based Mars. Other extra-terrestrial layers in Google Earth include Sky and Mars. There's also an Ocean layer, which was launched in February with the release of Google Earth 5.0. Moon in Google Earth details all of the Apollo landing missions, and offers lunar surface panoramas in Google's Street View format. So far, there have been no privacy complaints. Google's Moon project is a result of the company's Space Act Agreement with NASA. Japan's space agency JAXA also helped out by donating a global terrain dataset of the Moon.

DTN News: Russia, Ahmadinejad And Iran Reconsidered

DTN News: Russia, Ahmadinejad And Iran Reconsidered *Source: By George Friedman STRATFOR (NSI News Source Info) July 21, 2009: At Friday prayers July 17 at Tehran University, the influential cleric and former Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani gave his first sermon since Iran’s disputed presidential election and the subsequent demonstrations. The crowd listening to Rafsanjani inside the mosque was filled with Ahmadinejad supporters who chanted, among other things, “Death to America” and “Death to China.” Outside the university common grounds, anti-Ahmadinejad elements — many of whom were blocked by Basij militiamen and police from entering the mosque — persistently chanted “Death to Russia.” Death to America is an old staple in Iran. Death to China had to do with the demonstrations in Xinjiang and the death of Uighurs at the hands of the Chinese. Death to Russia, however, stood out. Clearly, its use was planned before the protesters took to the streets. The meaning of this must be uncovered. To begin to do that, we must consider the political configuration in Iran at the moment. The Iranian Political Configuration There are two factions claiming to speak for the people. Rafsanjani represents the first faction. During his sermon, he spoke for the tradition of the founder of the Islamic republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who took power during the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Rafjsanjani argued that Khomeini wanted an Islamic republic faithful to the will of the people, albeit within the confines of Islamic law. Rafsanjani argued that he was the true heir to the Islamic revolution. He added that Khomeini’s successor — the current supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — had violated the principles of the revolution when he accepted that Rafsanjani’s archenemy, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, had won Iran’s recent presidential election. (There is enormous irony in foreigners describing Rafsanjani as a moderate reformer who supports greater liberalization. Though he has long cultivated this image in the West, in 30 years of public political life it is hard to see a time when has supported Western-style liberal democracy.) The other faction is led by Ahmadinejad, who takes the position that Rafsanjani in particular — along with the generation of leaders who ascended to power during the first phase of the Islamic republic — has betrayed the Iranian people. Rather than serving the people, Ahmadinejad claims they have used their positions to become so wealthy that they dominate the Iranian economy and have made the reforms needed to revitalize the Iranian economy impossible. According to Ahmadinejad’s charges, these elements now blame Ahmadinejad for Iran’s economic failings when the root of these failings is their own corruption. Ahmadinejad claims that the recent presidential election represents a national rejection of the status quo. He adds that claims of fraud represent attempts by Rafsanjani — who he portrays as defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi’s sponsor — and his ilk to protect their positions from Ahmadinejad. Iran is therefore experiencing a generational dispute, with each side claiming to speak both for the people and for the Khomeini tradition. There is the older generation — symbolized by Rafsanjani — that has prospered during the last 30 years. Having worked with Khomeini, this generation sees itself as his true heir. Then, there is the younger generation. Known as “students” during the revolution, this group did the demonstrating and bore the brunt of the shah’s security force counterattacks. It argues that Khomeini would be appalled at what Rafsanjani and his generation have done to Iran. This debate is, of course, more complex than this. Khamenei, a key associate of Khomeini, appears to support Ahmadinejad’s position. And Ahmadinejad hardly speaks for all of the poor as he would like to claim. The lines of political disputes are never drawn as neatly as we would like. Ultimately, Rafsanjani’s opposition to the recent election did not have as much to do with concerns (valid or not) over voter fraud. It had everything to do with the fact that the outcome threatened his personal position. Which brings us back to the question of why Rafsanjani’s followers were chanting Death to Russia. Examining the Anomalous Chant For months prior to the election, Ahmadinejad’s allies warned that the United States was planning a “color” revolution. Color revolutions, like the one in Ukraine, occurred widely in the former Soviet Union after its collapse, and these revolutions followed certain steps. An opposition political party was organized to mount an electoral challenge to the establishment. Then, an election occurred that was either fraudulent or claimed by the opposition as having been fraudulent. Next, widespread peaceful protests against the regime (all using a national color as the symbol of the revolution) took place, followed by the collapse of the government through a variety of paths. Ultimately, the opposition — which was invariably pro-Western and particularly pro-American — took power. Moscow openly claimed that Western intelligence agencies, particularly the CIA, organized and funded the 2004-2005 Orange Revolution in Ukraine. These agencies allegedly used nongovernmental organizations (human rights groups, pro-democracy groups, etc.) to delegitimize the existing regime, repudiate the outcome of the election regardless of its validity and impose what the Russians regarded as a pro-American puppet regime. The Russians saw Ukraine’s Orange Revolution as the break point in their relationship with the West, with the creation of a pro-American, pro-NATO regime in Ukraine representing a direct attack on Russian national security. The Americans argued that to the contrary, they had done nothing but facilitate a democratic movement that opposed the existing regime for its own reasons, demanding that rigged elections be repudiated. In warning that the United States was planning a color revolution in Iran, Ahmadinejad took the Russian position. Namely, he was arguing that behind the cover of national self-determination, human rights and commitment to democratic institutions, the United States was funding an Iranian opposition movement on the order of those active in the former Soviet Union. Regardless of whether the opposition actually had more votes, this opposition movement would immediately regard an Ahmadinejad win as the result of fraud. Large demonstrations would ensue, and if they were left unopposed the Islamic republic would come under threat. In doing this, Ahmadinejad’s faction positioned itself against the actuality that such a rising would occur. If it did, Ahmadinejad could claim that the demonstrators were — wittingly or not — operating on behalf of the United States, thus delegitimizing the demonstrators. In so doing, he could discredit supporters of the demonstrators as not tough enough on the United States, a useful charge against Rafsanjani, whom the West long has held up as an Iranian moderate. Interestingly, while demonstrations were at their height, Ahmadinejad chose to attend — albeit a day late — a multinational Shanghai Cooperation Organization conference in Moscow on the Tuesday after the election. It was very odd that he would leave Iran during the greatest postelection unrest; we assumed he had decided to demonstrate to Iranians that he didn’t take the demonstrations seriously. The charge that seems to be emerging on the Rafsanjani side is that Ahmadinejad’s fears of a color revolution were not simply political, but were encouraged by the Russians. It was the Russians who had been talking to Ahmadinejad and his lieutenants on a host of issues, who warned him about the possibility of a color revolution. More important, the Russians helped prepare Ahmadinejad for the unrest that would come — and given the Russian experience, how to manage it. Though we speculate here, if this theory is correct, it could explain some of the efficiency with which Ahmadinejad shut down cell phone and other communications during the postelection unrest, as he may have had Russian advisers. Rafsanjani’s followers were not shouting Death to Russia without a reason, at least in their own minds. They are certainly charging that Ahmadinejad took advice from the Russians, and went to Russia in the midst of political unrest for consultations. Rafsanjani’s charge may or may not be true. Either way, there is no question that Ahmadinejad did claim that the United States was planning a color revolution in Iran. If he believed that charge, it would have been irrational not to reach out to the Russians. But whether or not the CIA was involved, the Russians might well have provided Ahmadinejad with intelligence of such a plot and helped shape his response, and thereby may have created a closer relationship with him. How Iran’s internal struggle will work itself out remains unclear. But one dimension is shaping up: Ahmadinejad is trying to position Rafsanjani as leading a pro-American faction intent on a color revolution, while Rafsanjani is trying to position Ahmadinejad as part of a pro-Russian faction. In this argument, the claim that Ahmadinejad had some degree of advice or collaboration with the Russians is credible, just as the claim that Rafsanjani maintained some channels with the Americans is credible. And this makes an internal dispute geopolitically significant. The Iranian Struggle in a Geopolitical Context At the moment, Ahmadinejad appears to have the upper hand. Khamenei has certified his re-election. The crowds have dissipated; nothing even close to the numbers of the first few days has since materialized. For Ahmadinejad to lose, Rafsanjani would have to mobilize much of the clergy — many of whom are seemingly content to let Rafsanjani be the brunt of Ahmadinejad’s attacks — in return for leaving their own interests and fortunes intact. There are things that could bring Ahmadinejad down and put Rafsanjani in control, but all of them would require Khamenei to endorse social and political instability, which he will not do. If the Russians have in fact intervened in Iran to the extent of providing intelligence to Ahmadinejad and advice to him during his visit on how to handle the postelection unrest (as the chants suggest), then Russian influence in Iran is not surging — it has surged. In some measure, Ahmadinejad would owe his position to Russian warnings and advice. There is little gratitude in the world of international affairs, but Ahmadinejad has enemies, and the Russians would have proved their utility in helping contain those enemies. From the Russian point of view, Ahmadinejad would be a superb asset — even if not truly under their control. His very existence focuses American attention on Iran, not on Russia. It follows, then, that Russia would have made a strategic decision to involve itself in the postelection unrest, and that for the purposes of its own negotiations with Washington, Moscow will follow through to protect the Iranian state to the extent possible. The Russians have already denied U.S. requests for assistance on Iran. But if Moscow has intervened in Iran to help safeguard Ahmadinejad’s position, then the potential increases for Russia to provide Iran with the S-300 strategic air defense systems that it has been dangling in front of Tehran for more than a decade. If the United States perceives an entente between Moscow and Tehran emerging, then the entire dynamic of the region shifts and the United States must change its game. The threat to Washington’s interests becomes more intense as the potential of a Russian S-300 sale to Iran increases, and the need to disrupt the Russian-Iranian entente would become all the more important. U.S. influence in Iran already has declined substantially, and Ahmadinejad is more distrustful and hostile than ever of the United States after having to deal with the postelection unrest. If a Russian-Iranian entente emerges out of all this — which at the moment is merely a possibility, not an imminent reality — then the United States would have some serious strategic problems on its hands. Revisiting Assumptions on Iran For the past few years, STRATFOR has assumed that a U.S. or Israeli strike on Iran was unlikely. Iran was not as advanced in its nuclear program as some claimed, and the complexities of any attack were greater than assumed. The threat of an attack was thus a U.S. bargaining chip, much as Iran’s nuclear program itself was an Iranian bargaining chip for use in achieving Tehran’s objectives in Iraq and the wider region. To this point, our net assessment has been accurate. At this point, however, we need to stop and reconsider. If Iran and Russia begin serious cooperation, Washington’s existing dilemma with Iran’s nuclear ambitions and its ongoing standoff with the Russians would fuse to become a single, integrated problem. This is something the United States would find difficult to manage. Washington’s primary goal would become preventing this from happening. Ahmadinejad has long argued that the United States was never about to attack Iran, and that charges by Rafsanjani and others that he has pursued a reckless foreign policy were groundless. But with the Death to Russia chants and signaling of increased Russian support for Iran, the United States may begin to reconsider its approach to the region. Iran’s clerical elite does not want to go to war. They therefore can only view with alarm the recent ostentatious transiting of the Suez Canal into the Red Sea by Israeli submarines and corvettes. This transiting did not happen without U.S. approval. Moreover, in spite of U.S. opposition to expanded Israeli settlements and Israeli refusals to comply with this opposition, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates will be visiting Israel in two weeks. The Israelis have said that there must be a deadline on negotiations with Iran over the nuclear program when the next G-8 meeting takes place in September; a deadline that the G-8 has already approved. The consequences if Iran ignores the deadline were left open-ended. All of this can fit into our old model of psychological warfare, as representing a bid to manipulate Iranian politics by making Ahmadinejad’s leadership look too risky. It could also be the United States signaling the Russians that stakes in the region are rising. It is not clear that the United States has reconsidered its strategy on Iran in the wake of the postelection demonstrations. But if Rafsanjani’s claim of Russian support for Ahmadinejad is true, a massive re-evaluation of U.S. policy could ensue, assuming one hasn’t already started — prompting a reconsideration of the military option. All of this assumes that there is substance behind a mob chanting “Death to Russia.” There appears to be, but of course, Ahmadinejad’s enemies would want to magnify that substance to its limits and beyond. This is why we are not ready to simply abandon our previous net assessment of Iran, even though it is definitely time to rethink it.
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DTN News: EDA Orders Unmanned Vehicle Development

DTN News: EDA Orders Unmanned Vehicle Development
*Source: DTN News / Defense Media
(NSI News Source Info) DUSSELDROF, Germany - July 21, 2009: German military vehicle specialist Rheinmetall Defence has been given the lead in a $5.6 million project to develop unmanned vehicles for the European Defense Agency. Rheinmetall will head up the project with Germany's Diehl BGT Defence, France's ECA and France's Thales Optronique also involved. The contract calls for the construction of a demonstration version of an unmanned ground craft. Trials are expected to be conducted in 2013. The device is seen as a way to protect troops taking part in hazardous operations, a release from Rheinmetall stated. "Nations taking part in international peacekeeping and peace enforcement missions are understandably eager to keep casualties as low as possible to avoid losing public support at home," Rheinmetall said. "One way of meeting this challenge is to use unmanned systems which operate autonomously and can perform a variety of missions, making sure that friendly personnel are not exposed to danger unnecessarily." The German Army's new Puma infantry fighting vehicle meets the military's requirement for high strategic and tactical mobility as well as delivering excellent crew protection and massive firepower. It enables soldiers to react immediately to emerging targets and threats, mounting a flexible response tailored to the specific situation.Compared with its international rivals, Puma offers a level of performance never before attained, especially with regard to survivability. The German Army is expected to order 405 vehicles. The contract, including training equipment and logistical support, is worth around €3 billon. The political go-ahead to start series production is expected in 2007. The German procurement authorities already placed an order at the end of 2004 for five pre-production vehicles as well as logistics and training services, including an option for series production.The Puma is based on a completely new vehicle design that reflects the requirements of today's armed forces. New missions such as peacekeeping and peacemaking require a highly mobile weapon system that is light enough for rapid strategic deployment yet tough enough to assure maximum survivability: the Puma provides a level of crew protection against mines and rocket-propelled grenades (ubiquitous in the world's crisis regions) never seen before in a comparable vehicle. The program is referred as Semi-Autonomous Unmanned Ground Vehicle System Demonstrator. Initial specifications call for a wheeled, all-terrain vehicle weighing between 660 and 880 pounds. The device would be operated remotely or autonomously though a built-in satellite-supported navigation system. It would operate for up to 24 hours and have a range of 240 miles. Additionally, planned 3-D laser radar, camera systems and ultrasonic sensors would aid the vehicle to avoid obstacles and other hindrances in its surroundings. The SAM-UGV is also seen as having the potential to carry out reconnaissance missions in areas subject to nuclear, chemical or biological contamination. "The system's suitability as a means of searching for improvised explosive devices will also be studied, responding to the acute threat these currently pose to forces deployed in global conflict zones," the Rheinmetall release said. The need for such unmanned vehicles is seen as growing for theaters such as Iraq and Afghanistan, where traditional military strategies are proving less effective. Rheinmetall said that cost pressures would make the development of a sophisticated system such as the SAM-UGV "all but impossible for a single, company-financed research and development program." But since the four companies are working together, with the European Defense Agency arranging financial backing "this project is a good example of the way the European defense industry is bundling its strengths -- one of EDA's prime objectives." News of Rheinmetall's involvement in the SAM-UGV contract came a week after the company said the German military ordered 405 Puma infantry fighting vehicles from the company's 50-50 PSM GmbH partnership with Krauss-Maffei Wegmann GmbH and Co. KG. That deal is worth $4.3 billion.

DTN News: Time to talk to Taliban ~ Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf

DTN News: Time to talk to Taliban ~ Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf *Source: DTN News / AFP (NSI News Source Info) LONDON, U.K. - July 21, 2009: Former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf said dialogue had to be established with the Taliban and political progress, rather than military might, would achieve a solution in Afghanistan. Former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf visits a Muslim cultural center in Moscow on May 27, 2009. Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom is keen to participate in a pipeline to carry Iranian gas to Pakistan, the Kommersant daily reported, citing company and government officials. "I think the strategy is right but we need to put in a little more input, more forces required, and maybe we need to concentrate also on the long-term strategy. We are following a short-term military strategy only," the former general told Britain's Sky News television. "The Taliban have done wicked things. But then we have to come to a solution. "Military is never the ultimate solution. The military can buy you time, it can create an environment, but ultimately it is the political instrument which has to be used. "I personally think that you need to establish a political dialogue and political dialogue with senior elements within the Taliban. "Unfortunately, the Taliban or the senior elements in the Taliban, I don't think are open at the moment to any discussions or any negotiations with (Afghan President Hamid) Karzai. "We need to have people, whether through a jirga or whether it is the president himself, to have access into the Taliban." Musharraf said the Taliban's influence in Pakistan's Afghan border areas had strengthened since he resigned the presidency in August last year. "There is a degree of instability that has come up because of this resurgence of Talibanisation activity in the settled districts of the frontier, especially Swat, but I am very sure as long as the armed forces of Pakistan stay and they are strong, Pakistan will remain stable," he said.

DTN News: Russia Set To Build Up Its Naval Facilities In Syria

DTN News: Russia Set To Build Up Its Naval Facilities In Syria
*Source: DTN News / RIA Novosti
(NSI News Source Info) MOSCOW, Russia - July 21, 2009: The Russian Navy will expand and modernize its Soviet-era naval maintenance site near Tartus in Syria to support anti-piracy operations off the Somali coast, a high-ranking navy source said on Monday. About 50 naval personnel and three berthing floats are currently deployed at the Tartus site, which can accommodate up to a dozen warships. "Two tug boats from the Black Sea Fleet will deliver a new berthing float to Tartus," the source said. "Following modernization, the Russian naval maintenance site in Tartus will become fully-operational," he added. The Navy maintenance site near Tartus is the only Russian foothold in the Mediterranean. Russian navy commanders have long been calling for the expansion and modernization of the Tartus base. "The base in Tartus will provide all necessary support for the Russian warships which will be engaged in protecting commercial shipping around the Horn of Africa," the official said. According to the Russian Navy, the naval base in Syria significantly boosts Russia's operational capability in the region because the warships based there are capable of reaching the Red Sea through the Suez Canal and the Atlantic through the Strait of Gibraltar in a matter of days. Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, the deputy chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, said in January that the General Staff had backed the Navy command's proposal to develop naval infrastructure outside Russia. Russia has reportedly been involved in talks to establish naval facilities in Yemen, Syria and Libya, among other countries in the Mediterranean.

DTN News: New Russian Task Force To Patrol Somali Waters Until November

DTN News: New Russian Task Force To Patrol Somali Waters Until November *Source: DTN News / RIA Novosti (NSI News Source Info) MOSCOW, Russia - July 21, 2009: A new task force from Russia's Pacific Fleet will join international efforts to fight piracy off Somalia until the end of October, the first deputy chief of the Russian Navy General Staff said on Monday. The task force, comprising the Admiral Tributs destroyer with two helicopters, a salvage tug, a tanker, and a naval infantry unit, will arrive in late July in the Gulf of Aden to take part in operations. "We are deciding on the composition of the next task force to be sent to the region around the Horn of Africa in November," Vice Admiral Oleg Burtsev said. Around 35 warships from the navies of 16 countries are currently deployed off Somalia's coast to counter frequent pirate attacks on vital commercial lanes. The Russian Navy joined international anti-piracy efforts off Somali coast in October 2008. Three warships have so far participated in the mission - the Baltic Fleet's Neustrashimy (Fearless) frigate, and the Pacific Fleet's Admiral Vinogradov and Admiral Panteleyev destroyers. Burtsev said earlier that at least five large groups of pirates, totaling over 5,000 men, are operating in the Gulf of Aden, and they had become more daring and aggressive recently. According to the United Nations, Somali pirates collected $150 million in ransom payments from ship owners last year, while overall losses from piracy were estimated at $13-16 billion, including the soaring cost of insurance and protection for vessels, as well as sending ships on longer routes to avoid high-risk areas.