Georgia.... Today's in Pictures

Georgia....Today's in Pictures August 29, 2008 NSI News Source Info A Russian soldier stood guard during a demonstration by Georgians outside the Russian peacekeepers' base near the town of Chorotchku in northwestern Georgia. About 1,000 Georgians called on soldiers to leave the country. The crowd approached to within a couple of yards of the barbed-wire fence encircling the Russian position at Chorotchku.

Russia and Georgia to close embassies

Russia and Georgia to close embassies (NSI News Source Info) MOSCOW - August 29, 2008: Russia will be forced to shut its embassy in Tbilisi following Georgia's announcement that it is severing diplomatic ties with Moscow, a Foreign Ministry source said on Friday. Georgia's Deputy Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze said on Friday that Georgia was cutting diplomatic ties with Russia following Moscow's recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states. "When diplomatic relations are severed, embassies also shut," the source said. "Perhaps some kind of office or consular service will remain there." A spokesman for Russia's Foreign Ministry said commenting on the decision that Georgia's authorities, "essentially are leaving their citizens to the mercy of fate," adding that there are between 600,000 to 1 million Georgians currently in Russia. Igor Lyakin-Frolov also said that there are just "maybe several hundred Russians in Georgia." A source in Georgia's embassy in Russia said that it would take about a week to close the diplomatic mission, adding that "no instruction [to leave Russia] has been given as yet by the Georgian Foreign Ministry." The source said that some legal issues are being considered to allow the consulate to continue its work, "because it must protect the interests of its citizens, so that Russian nationals can come to Georgia." The current diplomatic crisis emerged after Russia officially recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia on Tuesday despite warnings from Western powers, saying the move was needed to protect the regions following Georgia's August 8 attack on South Ossetia, which was followed by five days of hostilities between Georgia and Russia.

Russia missile test heightens stand-off with West

Russia missile test heightens stand-off with West

(NSI News Source Info) Moscow - August 29, 2008: Russia on Thursday tested an inter-continental missile, heightening tensions with the West as France said the European Union could impose sanctions on Moscow over the Georgia conflict. Russia also sought international support at a summit with China and Central Asian nations. The missile test in northern Russia came barely a week after the United States completed an accord with Poland on basing an anti-missile shield in central Europe and as Russia accuses NATO of building up its navy vessels in the Black Sea. A spokesman for Russia's strategic nuclear forces said the 6,000 kilometre (3,700 mile) test of the Topol RS-12M was successful, news agencies reported. Russia has been developing the missile in response to US plans to develop a missile-defence shield. The announcement came as Russia complained about the number of NATO ships in the Black Sea and said it was taking "measures of precaution." NATO said there were five warships taking part in exercises in the Black Sea that were organised before Russia's military offensive in Georgia on August 8. The stand-off with the West has deepened since President Dmitry Medvedev's announcement that Russia recognised South Ossetia and another rebel region, Abkhazia, as independent states. "There is no NATO naval build up in the Black Sea as Russian authorities are claiming in the media," alliance spokeswoman Carmen Romero said. US warships have taken relief supplies to Georgia outside of the NATO exercises and other western nations are believed to have vessels in the Black Sea. Russia has moved some of its own naval forces to the Abkhaz port of Sukhumi. EU states are considering imposing sanctions on Russia at an emergency summit on the Georgian crisis on Monday, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said. "Sanctions are being considered, and many other means," said Kouchner, whose country holds the European Union presidency. "We are trying to draw up a strong text showing our desire not to accept" events in Georgia, Kouchner said, adding that France was not among the EU countries proposing sanctions. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov shrugged off the threat, saying it was made "just because they're upset that the 'little pet' of certain Western capitals didn't fulfil their expectations." Lavrov said the French minister had a "sick imagination" for suggesting on Wednesday that Moscow could have designs on Ukraine and Moldova. Russia claimed it had secured support from China and four other nations at a summit in Dushanbe, the Tajikistan capital. A statement released by the six nations at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit voiced support for Russia's "active role" in "assisting in peace and cooperation in the region" but also called for dialogue and respect for "territorial integrity." "The SCO member states express their deep concern over the recent tensions surrounding the South Ossetia question and call for the sides to peacefully resolve existing problems through dialogue," said the statement signed by Medvedev, President Hu Jintao of China and the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The declaration called for respect for "territorial integrity" without specifically naming the Georgia case. Medvedev described the "united position" of the SCO members as a "serious signal" to the West. "I am sure that the united position of the SCO member states will have international resonance," Medvedev said. "And I hope it will serve as a serious signal to those who try to turn black into white and justify this aggression." China said Wednesday it was "concerned" at the Georgia conflict and called for "dialogue and consultation" to resolve the issue. On Wednesday, the Group of Seven industrialised powers condemned Russia's recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. "We deplore Russia's excessive use of military force in Georgia and its continued occupation of parts of Georgia," said the statement from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States. South Ossetian prosecutor general Teimuraz Khugayev said Thursday that 1,692 people were killed and 1,500 wounded in the attack by Georgian forces on the breakaway region, news agencies reported. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called on Russia to allow an international probe into allegations of abuses by the Georgian military in South Ossetia. Georgian Foreign Minister Eka Tkeshelashvili accused Russia of pursuing "ethnic cleansing" in South Ossetia, at a special meeting of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

China hails three-billion-dollar oil deal with Iraq

China hails three-billion-dollar oil deal with Iraq

(NSI News Source Info) Beijing - August 29, 2008: China hailed Thursday a three-billion-dollar oil agreement with Iraq as a win for both nations, as it sought to reassure the rest of the world that it should not be concerned by the deal. Becoming the first foreign firm to enter such an agreement since the end of Saddam Hussein's regime, state-owned China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) this week won the right to develop the Al-Ahdab oil field south of Baghdad. "The cooperation between the relevant oil companies from China and Iraq is mutually beneficial," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters after the Iraqi embassy in Beijing said the deal had been reached. "It will be conducive to the economic development of Iraq, and will meet China's demands in the oil field as well, and is also conducted according to market rules and will not harm any interests of any third parties." The agreement, reached during a visit to China by Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani, revives a 1997 contract that granted China exploration rights to the Al-Ahdab oil field in the province of Wassit. After China won the rights to the al-Ahdab field in a deal then valued at 700 million dollars over 23 years, activities were suspended due to UN sanctions and security issues following the US-led war in 2003 that toppled Saddam. Planned oil production was then 90,000 barrels per day (bpd), and CNPC had been expected to win the new exploration rights. The Iraqi embassy statement said the new deal would be worth three billion dollars, but other details were sketchy. The oil field will become operational in three year's time and is likely to produce oil for 20 years after that, an Iraqi oil ministry official who took part in al-Shahristani's delegation told AFP. For China, the deal is another potential success in its sometimes controversial global quest for oil that has seen it sign a flurry of contracts in Africa and the Middle East in recent years. China's demand for oil has grown markedly in recent years, as its economy has grown at double-digit pace and its population of more than 1.3 billion people has grown richer. "This is certainly a breakthrough," said Liu Youcheng, a Beijing-based analyst with Hongyuan Securities. "With oil prices surging, the global contest for oil resources is becoming ever fiercer. Many governments have realised this and have become unwilling to sell their oil resources cheaply to the multinationals." The Al-Ahdab oil field deal is a service contract, which gives oil companies a flat fee for their efforts rather than a share of the profits from the exploitation of oil resources. In this light, the deal may not be as attractive to China as it could have been. However China, a net importer of oil since the 1990s, is so desperate for energy that it is prepared to make significant concessions to secure oil supplies, according to Hongyan Securities' Liu. "Since it has become more and more difficult to obtain equity and exploit rights in oil fields, it's good for China to participate in the development through a service contract. It diversifies our oil sources and helps guarantee China's oil supplies," he said. At the end of June, Iraq's oil ministry threw open six oilfields and two gas fields for international bidding by 41 companies. The deals, which are service contracts only, pave the way for energy firms based abroad to return to Iraq 36 years after Saddam threw them out. Iraq wants to ramp up output by 500,000 bpd from the current average production of 2.5 million bpd, about equal to the amount being pumped before the US-led invasion of March 2003. CNPC declined comment Thursday on the revived deal.

Report: German Forces Face Recruitment Crisis

Report: German Forces Face Recruitment Crisis (NSI News Source Info) August 29, 2008: The German armed forces face a recruitment crisis as combat losses in Afghanistan and low pay appear to be deterring prospective volunteers. (Bundeswehr photo)The number of volunteers signing up to join the German Bundeswehr has reportedly slumped by up to 62 percent this year. The Bundeswehr mission in Afghanistan appears to be one major reason for the drop in applicants. The death on Wednesday, Aug. 27, of a German soldier in an attack in northern Afghanistan brought to 28 the number of Bundeswehr troops who have lost their lives in the country since 2002. In international comparison, this might seem a relatively low figure. But it is unprecedented in post-war Germany and a reflection of the radical revision of the German armed forces' role in recent years. When the Bundeswehr was created in 1955, it was for the sole purpose of defense. Its first armed engagement outside Germany's borders came with the NATO-led mission in Kosovo in 1999. The Rheinische Post cites an internal army document as the source of its recruitment statistics. In addition, the newspaper reports that the recruitment and retention of doctors and pilots is becoming increasingly difficult. A money problem? Remuneration here also appears to be a factor. According to the newspaper, pilots are increasingly being enticed by civilian jobs offering wages of up to 9,000 euros ($13,270) a month, compared to some 3,000 euros a month on deployment in Afghanistan. And some 10 percent of officer recruits are reportedly leaving the force before their career has really taken off. The deputy head of the Federal Armed Forces Association, which represents the interests of both conscripts and professional soldiers and their families, also reported a drop in the number of volunteers. Ulrich Kirsch told the Osnabruecker Zeitung that the number of applicants had gone down by more than 50 percent when compared to last year. Kirsch said that soldiers in Afghanistan received 92 euros untaxed extra pay a day. But "money isn't everything," he added. The latest attack in the Hindukush showed that death and injury was part and parcel of the Afghan mission, he said. Wilfried Stolze, a spokesman for the Federal Armed Forces Association, told the Rheinische Post that there were no official statistics about why people were leaving the forces. "But we are also witnessing this phenomenon", he said and added that Afghanistan was seldom the sole reason for the decision, but was often the result of several factors, including further cost-cutting measures. "If Christmas bonuses are reduced by 50 percent that gives a corporal food for thought," he said.

U.S. to sell new arms to Taiwan

U.S. to sell new arms to Taiwan (NSI News Source Info) TAIPEI - August 29, 2008: The United States will sell anti-ship missiles to Taiwan in a $90 million deal, ending what analysts said had been an arms sale freeze designed to ease tension between Beijing and Taipei. Taiwan will buy 60 Harpoon Air Launch missiles made by McDonnell Douglas Corp., the U.S. Department of Defense said. The surface-skimming missiles can sink ocean-going warships. "Due to rising tension in the Taiwan Strait, the U.S. had postponed the decision," said Andrew Yang, secretary-general with the Taiwan think-tank China Council of Advanced Policy Studies. Current Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou has reached out to China since taking office on May 20. "It is a good sign, a positive gesture that the U.S. is taking some actions in regard to Taiwan's defence requests." Washington is still sitting on a $12 billion package of additional weaponry sought by Taiwan. China has claimed sovereignty over Taiwan since 1949, when Mao Zedong's Communists won the Chinese civil war and Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists (KMT) fled to the island. Beijing has vowed to bring Taiwan under its rule, by force if necessary. The United States switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, recognising "one China", but remains Taiwan's biggest ally and is obliged by the Taiwan Relations Act to help the island defend itself. Last month reports in local and international media cited a top U.S. military official as saying the United States had frozen new arms sales to Taiwan. "The proposed sale will help improve the security of the recipient and assist in maintaining political stability, military balance and economic progress in the region," the U.S. government said in a statement on the Harpoon missiles last year. But U.S. officials later quit selling weapons to Taiwan under the island's former President Chen Shui-bian, fearing Chen would provoke Beijing, defence analysts said. Current Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou has reached out to China since taking office on May 20, making landmark progress in trade and travel. But his defence minister has said China remains a military threat.

U.S. failure to restrain Georgia harmed Russia-U.S. relations - Putin

U.S. failure to restrain Georgia harmed Russia-U.S. relations - Putin (NSI News Source Info) MOSCOW - August 29, 2008: Russia's prime minister blasted the United States on Thursday for its inability to keep Georgia from attacking South Ossetia, and said that this had damaged bilateral relations. "This [inability] of course harmed our relations, first of all intergovernmental," Vladimir Putin told CNN in an interview. Tbilisi launched a military offensive against South Ossetia on August 8, seeking to retake control of the breakaway region. At least 64 Russian peacekeepers and hundreds of South Ossetian civilians died, with thousands more forced to flee the devastated republic. Putin said Russia had hoped the United States would step into the Georgia-South Ossetia conflict and stop Georgia attacking South Ossetia. "We expected the U.S. to intervene in the conflict and stop the aggressive actions of the Georgian leadership," Putin told CNN. However, Putin said, "The U.S. administration not only failed to restrain the Georgian leadership from this criminal action, but the American side in fact trained and equipped the Georgian army." Seven of the world's leading industrialized nations have condemned Russia's decision on Tuesday to recognize Georgia's breakaway republics as independent, while calling on Moscow to withdraw its troops from Georgia. "We, the foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom, condemn the action of our fellow G8 member," the group said in a joint statement. Meanwhile, the former Russian president said Russia had no intention of turning a blind eye to the killings of its citizens for the sake of membership of the G8. Speaking on Russia's relations with the West, Putin said that Russia would not use energy to achieve its aims, as Russia also depended on the stability of its gas supplies. However, Putin dealt a blow to U.S. poultry exporters, announcing that 19 U.S. companies are to be banned from exporting their products to Russia as they "failed health and safety tests." He also added that 29 other companies had been warned to "improve their standards or face the same ban."

Russia 'could destroy NATO ships in Black Sea within 20 minutes'

Russia 'could destroy NATO ships in Black Sea within 20 minutes' (NSI News Source Info) MOSCOW - August 29, 2008: Russia's Black Sea Fleet is capable of destroying NATO's naval strike group currently deployed in the sea within 20 minutes, a former fleet commander said on Friday. Russia's General Staff said on Tuesday there were 10 NATO ships in the Black Sea - three U.S. warships, the Polish frigate General Pulaski, the German frigate FGS Lubeck, and the Spanish guided missile frigate Admiral Juan de Borbon, as well as four Turkish vessels. Eight more warships are expected to join the group. "Despite the apparent strength, the NATO naval group in the Black Sea is not battle-worthy," Admiral Eduard Baltin said. "If necessary, a single missile salvo from the Moskva missile cruiser and two or three missile boats would be enough to annihilate the entire group." "Within 20 minutes the waters would be clear," he said, stressing that despite major reductions, the Black Sea Fleet still has a formidable missile arsenal. However, Baltin said the chances of a military confrontation between NATO and Russia in the Black Sea are negligible. "We will not strike first, and they do not look like people with suicidal tendencies," he said. In addition to its flagship, the Moskva guided missile cruiser, Russia's Black Sea Fleet includes at least three destroyers, two guided missile frigates, four guided missile corvettes and six missile boats. NATO announced its decision to deliver humanitarian aid to Georgia after the conclusion of hostilities between Tbilisi and Moscow over breakaway South Ossetia on August 12. Moscow recognized on Tuesday both South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another breakaway Georgia republic, despite being urged by Western leaders not to do so. Russia's General Staff later said the alliance's naval deployment in the Black Sea "cannot fail to provoke concern", with unidentified sources in the Russian military saying a surface strike group was being gathered there. According to Russian military intelligence sources, the NATO warships that have entered the Black Sea are between them carrying over 100 Tomahawk cruise missiles and Harpoon anti-ship missiles.

S.Ossetia set to sign deal on Russian military base on Sep. 2

S.Ossetia set to sign deal on Russian military base on Sep. 2 (NSI News Source Info) TSKHINVALI - August 29, 2008: Russia and South Ossetia will on Tuesday sign an agreement on friendship and cooperation, which will stipulate the deployment of a Russian military base in the republic, a South Ossetian official said Friday. Znaur Gassiyev, the chairman of the South Ossetian parliament, said President Eduard Kokoity gave orders to lawmakers to prepare all the necessary documents for the signing of the agreement. Georgia attacked South Ossetia on August 8 in an attempt to regain control over the separatist republic, which split from Tbilisi in the early 1990s. Most people living in South Ossetia have Russian citizenship and Moscow subsequently launched an operation to "force Georgia to accept peace." The operation was concluded on August 12. Russia's president signed decrees Tuesday recognizing South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states and called on other countries to follow suit, although none has.

Russia launches RapidEye remote sensing satellites

Russia launches RapidEye remote sensing satellites (NSI News Source Info) MOSCOW - August 29, 2008: Russia has launched a constellation of five remote Earth sensing satellites from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan, the federal space agency said Friday. The satellites were launched by a converted Dnepr rocket under a contract with Britain's Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL), to be operated by Germany's RapidEye AG. The small-satellite mission will enable global monitoring of the Earth's surface, according to the company. RapidEye says the constellation is designed to provide insurance and food companies, farmers, governments, and other agencies and institutions throughout the world with up-to-date, customized information products and services. The constellation will image any area in the world at all latitudes between plus or minus 75 degrees within one day and take an average of five days to produce a complete data set for the agricultural land of North America and Europe. The Ukrainian-Russian-Kazakh consortium Kosmotras converts RS-20 (Satan) missiles into Dnepr launch rockets.