Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases

KTAR.com
March 7th, 2009
By BRADLEY S. KLAPPER
Associated Press Writer

Russia’s foreign minister called Saturday for an end to a decade of failure in global disarmament talks, seeking to build on an upbeat meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Sergey Lavrov said a stalemate at the Conference on Disarmament on issues from atomic bombs to space weapons can be broken now that the U.S. administration is “in favor of multilateral approaches to the maintenance of international security and disarmament.”

“The right moment has come today, for the first time after the end of the Cold War, for making real progress in resuming the global disarmament process on a broad agenda,” Lavrov told the 65-nation body.

The conference has failed to produce anything of substance since completing the nuclear weapons test-ban treaty in the mid-1990s. Confidence in the body was shattered in the early years of George W. Bush’s administration, when the United States withdrew from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and from six years of talks on a biological weapons ban. …

http://ktar.com/?nid=46&sid=1098486

UPI – GENEVA, Switzerland: March 7 2009

Russia and China say they want all countries to unite in declaring outer space off limits to weapons.

“Prevention of an arms race in space will contribute to ensuring the predictability of the strategic situation and preserving the orbital property,” Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, said Saturday. …

www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/03/07/Russia_China_call_for_space_weapons_ban/UPI-24331236454869/

6 March 2009

A deputy defense minister said Thursday that Russia is working towards developing anti-satellite weapons to match efforts by other nations.

According to Russian news reports, Gen. Valentin Popovkin said that while the country continues to oppose a space arms race, it would respond to moves made by other countries.

Popovkin was quoted as saying: “We can’t sit back and quietly watch others doing that, such work is being conducted in Russia.”

He added that Russia already has some “basic, key elements” of such weapons. However, he didn’t elaborate further …

http://redorbit.com/news/space/1650425/report_suggests_russia_is_developing_space_weapons/index.html

United Press International – USA: WASHINGTON, March 4

President Barack Obama should drop plans for a U.S. missile defense system in Eastern Europe, the Union of Concerned Scientists said Wednesday.

In a statement, David Wright of the group’s Global Security Program said that there are both technical and strategic reasons for reversing the Bush administration’s plan to locate parts of the system in Poland and the Czech Republic.

The system is untested and there is no proof it would be effective, Wright said. But plans to install it have enraged Russian leaders, threatening U.S. security by hampering cooperation on important issues like halting Iran’s nuclear program.

“President Obama should say no to deploying a missile defense system that offers no security benefits and needlessly provokes Russia,” Wright said. “Missile defense is not a magic bullet. Real-world threats require real-world solutions.” …

www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/03/04/Scientist_group_Drop_missile_shield/UPI-38951236201674/

United Press International – USA: TOKYO, March 3 2009

Japan is preparing to become the first country to deploy a ship-based, long-range missile defense system as North Korea apparently readies a missile test.

The controversial system, dubbed “Son of Star Wars,” has been installed aboard Japanese naval destroyers which are set to be dispatched to areas off North Korea should Pyongyang move ahead with an anticipated rocket launch …

www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/03/03/Japan_to_deploy_Son_of_Star_Wars/UPI-20211236117963/

United Press International – USA: TOKYO, March 3 2009

Japan is preparing to become the first country to deploy a ship-based, long-range missile defense system as North Korea apparently readies a missile test.

The controversial system, dubbed “Son of Star Wars,” has been installed aboard Japanese naval destroyers which are set to be dispatched to areas off North Korea should Pyongyang move ahead with an anticipated rocket launch …

www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/03/03/Japan_to_deploy_Son_of_Star_Wars/UPI-20211236117963/

Media Monitors Network – CA,USA
March 7, 2009

Southeast of Georgia and on Russia’s southern flank, US Central Command chief David Petraeus announced that Azerbaijan would be used as a transit route for NATO arms headed to the Afghan war theater. The US has also ordered more Azerbaijani troops deployed there to serve under NATO command and the US Missile Defense Agency is considering expanding its global missile shield program to include what is now a Russian surveillance base in Garbala, Azerbaijan. …

Two weeks ago US defense chief Gates reiterated that the Pentagon has a “continuing security relationship with Georgia both bilaterally and through NATO-Georgia Commission” and according to Civil Georgia “We’re involved in training. We are involved in military reform in Georgia.” …

http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/60405

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New York Times: March 8, 2009

In pledging last week that the “days of giving defense contractors a blank check are over,” President Obama is taking on the giant weapons contracting system that he says has “gone amok.” …

Gordon Adams, a professor at American University in Washington, said parts of the $10 billion missile defense programs, which are still being tested, represent “low-hanging fruit” for Mr. Obama. …

www.nytimes.com/2009/03/09/us/politics/09defense.html?_r=1&ref=us

Associated Press
Vladimir Isachenkov

Russia’s foreign minister said Friday he will focus on arms control talks during his meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton next week, while Moscow has demonstrated its revived military might by sending a bomber on patrol near Canada and putting a new military radar on duty.

Russia has welcomed the new U.S. administration’s intention to start talks soon on a successor deal to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START I, which expires in December. The treaty, signed by Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and President George H.W. Bush, contains a comprehensive control and verification mechanism hailed by both Moscow and Washington. …

The Kremlin has taken a tough tone with Washington ever since Barack Obama’s election. The day after his victory, President Dmitry Medvedev warned that Russia will deploy missiles to its westernmost Kaliningrad region in response to the U.S. missile defense plans. …

www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5joyt2yQAg5FcRwHi_T2dXgmfGDoQD96K5U6O0

Defense News: 19 Feb 2009
By JOHN T. BENNETT

The Obama administration has directed defense officials to sign a pledge stating they will not share 2010 budget data with individuals outside the federal government. …

The Pentagon and Office of Management and Budget have agreed on a fiscal 2010 defense budget top line figure of $537 billion. That level is nearly $50 billion lower than the $585 billion defense plan created during the final months of the Bush administration, and $24 billion higher than the already enacted $513 billion 2009 defense budget. …

www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=3956514