Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases

BBC News
February 4, 2010

Romania has agreed to host missile interceptors as part of a new US defence shield, its president says.

President Traian Basescu said the plan was approved by the defence council. It still needs parliamentary approval.

The US scrapped a previous missile shield, based in Poland and the Czech Republic, which had infuriated Russia.

Instead the new system would provide better defence from “the emerging threat” of Iranian short- and medium-range missiles, a US official said.

Mr Basescu said the system would “protect the whole of Romania’s territory”, but stressed that it “is not directed against Russia”.

He said Romania will host “ground capabilities to intercept missiles” that would be operational by 2015 if approved by parliament. …

Romania has agreed to host anti-ballistic missile interceptors as part of the administration’s “new missile defence plan… to protect US forward-deployed troops and our NATO allies against current and emerging ballistic missile threats from Iran,” he said.

Mr Obama’s decision to abandon the original plan in September was greeted with enthusiasm in Russia, and came amid attempts to “reset” the relationship between Washington and Moscow.

The anti-ballistic missile shield favoured by former President George W Bush would be replaced by a reconfigured system designed to shoot down short- and medium-range missiles, Mr Obama announced.

He said intelligence suggested Iran was concentrating on shorter-range, not intercontinental, missiles.

The Bush administration plans had infuriated Russia, which threatened to train nuclear warheads on Poland the Czech Republic in response.

The new system is built around ship- and land-based SM-3 missile interceptors.

In October, US Vice-President Joseph Biden visited Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic seeking support for the new system.

Poland has already signed up.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/world/europe/8498504.stm

Yahoo! News
February 1, 2010

The US military began its largest war games in the Pacific region Monday — an annual training exercise with troops from Thailand, Japan, Indonesia and Singapore, now joined by South Korea.

At the opening ceremony in the eastern Thai province of Rayong, US Ambassador Eric G. John said that the “Cobra Gold” exercise, now in its 29th year, had become a “multinational showcase event”.

“The US continues to view this exercise, which is our premier training event in Thailand, as an important symbol of US military commitment to maintaining peace and security in Asia,” he told the audience.

John welcomed South Korea’s participation in the event, which runs until February 11 and will see soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen from the six countries taking part in operations across Thailand.

He said the focus of the exercise was on joint peacekeeping operations and humanitarian and disaster responses, for which it offered “unparalleled” preparation, citing the 2004 tsunami relief operation as an example. …

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100201/pl_afp/thailandusskoreajapansingaporeindonesiamilitary

NTI: Global Security Newswire
January 26, 2010

Russia remains reluctant to partner with the United States on missile defense, Interfax reported Friday (see GSN, Jan. 22).

“As far as missile defense issues are concerned, we have told the U.S. and NATO that it is necessary to start everything from scratch — to jointly analyze the origin and types of missile proliferation risks and threats,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters.

“We are not ready to simply trust someone else’s analysis and proposals to counter such threats on the basis of this analysis,” Lavrov said. “But they have simply told us: these are the systems we plan to develop, and you will have to contribute your radars. This is not the kind of approach we are ready to support.”

Both the Bush and Obama administrations have tried to involve Moscow in efforts to prepare a European missile shield that would largely be aimed to countering Iranian weapons. The Kremlin loudly objected to the Bush administration plan — which involved fielding 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a radar installation in the Czech Republic — and has appeared to question a revamped initiative that would use land- and sea-based versions of the Standard Missile 3 system.

U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev have requested a shared assessment of missile proliferation threats, Lavrov noted.

“We are ready for this work. But the result of this joint analysis is unclear to me,” he said. “We will have to take a look at the situation surrounding all missile proliferation risks, not only those posed by Iran” (Interfax/Kiev Post, Jan. 22).

Wall Street Journal
January 31, 2010

The U.S. is sending more missile defense assets to countries around the Persian Gulf to counter what is seen as a growing threat from Iran, Reuters reports on its Web site Sunday. Nations including Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain will be hosting U.S. anti-missile systems, the report said. In addition, the U.S. Navy is deploying several ships with anti-missile capabilities in and around the region…

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100131-702829.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines (Subscription needed)

Washington Post
By Robert Burns (Associated Press)
January 31, 2010

As the Obama administration edges toward imposing tougher sanctions on Iran, it has begun upgrading its approach to defending its Persian Gulf allies against potential Iranian missile strikes, officials said Saturday.

The United States has quietly increased the capability of land-based Patriot defensive missiles in several Gulf Arab nations, and one military official said the Navy is beefing up the presence of ships capable of knocking down hostile missiles in flight. …

The moves have been in the works for months and are part of a broader adjustment in the U.S. approach to missile defense, including in Europe and Asia. Details have not been publicly announced, in part because of diplomatic sensitivities in Gulf countries which worry about Iranian military capabilities but are cautious about acknowledging U.S. protection.

The administration will send a review of ballistic missile strategy to Congress on Monday that frames the larger shifts. Attention to defense of the Persian Gulf region, a focus on diffuse networks of sensors and weapons and cooperation with Russia are major elements of the study, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. …

Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. Central Command chief who is responsible for U.S. military operations across the Middle East, mentioned in several recent public speeches one element of the defensive strategy in the Gulf: upgrading Patriot missile systems, which originally were deployed in the region to shoot down aircraft but now can hit missiles in flight. …

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/30/AR2010013002145.html

honoluluadvertiser.com
By John Yaukey
January 27, 2010

Draft of 4-year plan suggests major impact on Isle bases

Boots on the ground will trump jets in the air or boats in the
water in the Pentagon’s forward-looking, four-year plan due out Monday
alongside the 2011 defense budget.

The Quadrennial Defense Review will recommend beefing up the Army and Marine
Corps, now stretched thin in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to a draft
version of the document.

Many of the cuts in expensive weapons have already started.

For Hawai’i and Guam — home to some of the most expensive conventional weapons the nation deploys, as well as to legions of foot soldiers — the report will have manifold consequences, although it’s not yet clear what they are.

The various military branches are expected to outline how they’ll be affected by the QDR and the proposed 2011 defense budget Monday.

The defense budget has been growing by an annual average of 4 percent, which would mean a $563 billion package for 2011, depending on whether it includes special funding for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

If included, the war funding could boost the overall request to $700 billion or more.

The Obama administration has said it wants to include war funding in the annual budget, rather than adding it in as needed, the way the Bush administration did.

“The defense budget is now more people-oriented,” said Loren Thompson, a top defense analyst with the Virginia-based Lexington Institute. “You’re going to see more emphasis on fighting unconventional warfare and less on weapons like aircraft carriers and bombers — more on people and less on equipment.”

www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100127/NEWS01/1270348/Pentagon+s

Digital Journal
January 11, 2010

China’s armed forces successfully tested a system for intercepting missiles in mid-flight on Monday, state media reported.

While China released few technical details of the test, the official Xinhua News Agency said that ”ground-based midcourse missile interception technology” was tested and achieved the expected objective.
”The test is defensive in nature and is not targeted at any country,” Xinhua said.

This test appears to be another step in the intensifying animus brewing between China, and Taiwan. China has repeatedly issued strong warnings against Taiwan after their purchase of United States made arms, including the PAC-3 air defense missiles. China has repeatedly vowed violent means might be necessary in order to bring Taiwan back into the Communist country’s control.

China split with Taiwan during a civil war in 1949 but regularly claims that the self-governing, democratic Taiwan as part of its territory. Beijing has warned of a disruption in ties with Washington if the sale goes ahead, but has not said what specific actions it would take.

China is in the middle of a major technology upgrade for it’s military forces, and missile technology is now considered one of the country’s strengths, and if this test indeed went as well as reported, might put it a step ahead of the United States’ own missile defense technology.

www.digitaljournal.com/article/285473

China Daily
January 21, 2010

The United States and Russia are currently in discussion over the issue of global missile defense, said U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Beyrle here on Wednesday.

Beyrle told the Ekho Moskvy radio station that Washington and Moscow were discussing the possibility to involve Russia into a system of global missile defense, on which two rounds of negotiations have been held between experts from the two countries.

The diplomat also said the two sides are discussing measures to develop cooperation in this field, adding that their talks on strategic arms reduction were to conclude in the very near future.

In a late December visit to Russia’s Far East, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Russia must develop offensive weapons systems to counter the U.S. missile shield plans.

Putin said Russia would provide more information about its offensive weapons in exchange for more information on the U.S. missile defense systems, and would link such a demand with the new nuclear arms control treaty.

U.S. President Barack Obama announced on September 17, 2009 to abandon the Bush-era missile defense shield program while initiating a “phased, adaptive approach” of the plan in Eastern Europe.

The Bush administration planned to deploy 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic as part of its European missile shield to protect its European allies from missile threats from the so-called “rogue states.”

Russia strongly opposed the measure, saying it poses threat to its security.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev welcomed Obama’s announcement by officially declaring to scrap plans to install short-range Iskander missiles in its western Kaliningrad enclave.

However, Moscow’s urge for Washington to further expound the new approach merely received lukewarm response.

NATO, Russian chiefs of staff to meet next week

NATO and Russian chiefs of staff will meet in Brussels on January 26 for the first time since the outbreak of war between Russia and Georgia in August 2008, a spokesman for the NATO military committee said on Wednesday.

Colonel Massimo Panizzi told a press briefing that the Chief of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff, General Nikolai Makarov, was expected to attend the meeting with NATO military committee, which brings chiefs of staff from the 28 NATO nations.

“It will be the first time that the Russian chief of staff has taken part in such a meeting since the Georgian affair,” he said.

The two sides will discuss about furthering military cooperation, including Russia’s possible contribution to the NATO-led military efforts in Afghanistan and fight against terrorism, he said.

“Afghanistan will be one of the most important items on the agenda, given that these discussions will take place on the eve of the international conference on the country organized in London,” he said.

The relations between NATO and Russia were frozen after the August 2008 war. Though Georgia remains a source of tension, the relations between the two sides have improved in recent months.

In December 2009, NATO and Russian foreign ministers met in Brussels and agreed on enhancing military cooperation.

www.chinadaily.com.cn/2010-01/21/content_9351861.htm

Tokyo (AFP)
By Kyoko Hasegawa
January 24, 2010

Japanese voters in a city on Okinawa island elected a mayor Sunday who opposes plans for a controversial new US air base, complicating a row with Washington over relocating troops.

Two candidates in Nago city were squaring off over whether or not to give local support to a plan — currently under review by the centre-left national government — to build a major new Marine Corps air base there.

Susumu Inamine, 64, who campaigned on a platform of rejecting the base, ousted Yoshikazu Shimabukuro, 63, with a more-than 1,500-strong majority.

Official figures showed nearly 77 percent turnout by the city’s 45,000 voters.

“I’ve run this election campaign with the pledge of not to build a base” in the coastal area of Nago city, Inamone told more than a hundred of his supporters who shouted and applauded in rapture. “I’ll keep to this campaign promise with firm conviction,” he said.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has said he may scrap an agreement with Washington to relocate the base from its current site in a crowded urban area of Okinawa to a quieter coastal site in the Nago area by 2014.

The issue has strained ties between Tokyo and Washington, which marked the 50th anniversary of their security pact last Tuesday, since Japan’s new leaders took power four months ago ending a half-century of conservative rule.

The southern island of Okinawa, which saw some of the bloodiest battles of World War II, hosts more than half of the 47,000 US troops in Japan.

While some local businesses benefit from the heavy American military presence, many residents have long opposed it, citing crimes committed by servicemen as well as noise, pollution and the threat of accidents. …

www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gFgXCe9Mb6wfGIUeSF8F_GhVPAAw