Military - new material (64)
01 July 2008
Why does the US think it can win in Afghanistan, Robert Fisk. The Independent 20.9.08, p 44. Here Fisk moves from the “unimaginable” progress in Iraq (he is quoting “the fantasist who still occupies the White House”) to the forthcoming surge in Afghanistan, where ten French troops were killed on 18 August after several of them had surrendered to the Taliban.
European Military Capabilities. International Institute for Strategic Studies (London) July 2008. French plans to build up European military power to intervene in world crises depends on support from Britain, as France and Britain are the two biggest defence spenders in Europe.
Re-energising Europe´s Security and Defence Policy, Nick Witney (former Chief Executive of the European Defence Agency). European Council on Foreign Relations, July 2008. European governments should push for a multi-speed military Europe. The report urges the formation of overlapping `pioneer groups´ of the most willing and able on defence spending, investment in weapons and participating in operations. The countries most active should form a `core group´. Countries that do not meet some basic criteria should catch up or leave the European Defence Agency. See:
http://www.ecfr.eu/content/entry/european_security_and_defence_policy/
NATO´s Current Woes, Mark Burgess (Director World Security Institute, Brussels). Center for Defense Information, September 8.9.08. Rumours of NATO´s impending death may be overstated, but failure in Afghanistan will be costly to an organisation that has sought to reinvent itself since the end of the Cold War. NATO´s position in Afghanistan stems partly from inherent difficulties of counter-insurgency operations, but it is also hindered by lack of a common strategy, and sensitivity to domestic policies when it comes to using the troops: http://www.cdi.org/program/document.cfm?documentid=4369&programID=29&from_page=../friendlyversion/printversion.cfm
USAFE struggle to patrol NATO airspace, Caitlin Harrington. Jane´s Defence Weekly, 24.9.08 p 12. The number of US combat aircraft available to patrol NATO airspace and fulfil other missions in Europe has declined by 75 per cent since the end of the Cold War from 717 in 1990 to 177 today. According to General Roger Brady, commander of USAFE (US Air Forces in Europe) the "eastern fringes" of NATO airspace such as Poland are becoming nervous about Russia’s increasingly assertive airpower.
Israel asked US for green light to bomb nuclear sites in Iran, Jonathan Steele. The Guardian 25.9.08, pp 1-2. This piece, based on “senior European diplomatic sources”, discusses Israel’s plans to bomb Iran’s nuclear sites. According to Steele’s sources, Bush refused the plans for a Spring assault because of concerns over Iran’s likely retaliation (“a wave of attacks on US military and other personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as on shipping in the Persian Gulf”) and concerns that Israel “would not succeed in disabling Iran’s nuclear facilities in a single assault” and “could not mount a series of attacks over several days without risking fill-scale war.” The article concludes by referring to the US announcement, two weeks ago, that it will sell Israel 1,000 bunker busting bombs.
Blood at the Cross roads: making the case for a global arms trade treaty. Amnesty International (Index ACT 30/011/2008), September 2008, pp. 134. The report argues that governments must act to create effective and robust regulation to control the arms trade, arguing that an Arms Trade Treaty “could work to save lives, preserve livelihoods and enhance respect for human rights.” It examines the situation in Iraq, Columbia, Côte d’Ivoire, Guatemala, Guinea, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan and Chad: http://www.amnesty.org.uk/uploads/documents/doc_18674.pdf
Exposed: the arms lobbyist in parliament, James Macintyre. The Independent 26.6.98, p 1-2. Article on Robin Ashby, “a senior arms lobbyist [who] is gaining access to ministers, MPs and peers inside Parliament using a research assistant pass allotted to a member of the House of Lords who benefits financially from one of his companies.” Ashby is chairman of the defence consultancy firm Bergmann’s which “lobbies on behalf of more than a dozen large defence and aerospace companies including BAE Systems, Northern Defence Industries, UK Defence Forum, Boeing and Rolls-Royce...”