Messages In This Digest (12 Messages)

7.: War? Americans Don't Care From: Rick Rozoff

8.: Spiralling Out Of Control: The Risk Of A New Korean War From: Rick Rozoff

9.: Somalia: 20 Civilians Among 35 Killed In Ugandan Offensive From: Rick Rozoff

10.: NATO Troops Raid Home Of Afghan Reporter, Arrest Four From: Rick Rozoff

11.: Clinton In Tashkent: C. Asia Important Pillar Of U.S. Security Inter From: Rick Rozoff

12.: B-52s Return To Guam: Mission Throughout Asia-Pacific Area From: Rick Rozoff

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1.: NATO Air Combat Superiority: Bloc Launches Training Site In Texas

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Sat Dec 4, 2010 8:20 am (PST)

http://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/2010/dec/04/ground-broken-for-nato-training-site/

Times Record News
December 4, 2010

Ground broken for NATO training site
Building to improve training, efficiency
By Stacy Johnson

-"I take a lot of pride in saying that this is the world's premiere pilot training program...."
-[T]he multinational training environment at ENJJPT provides a basis for the future of air combat.

The continued air combat superiority of NATO started from the ground up Friday as Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and officials from Sheppard Air Force Base broke ground on a new operations group facility for the 80th Flying Training Wing, home to the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training Program.

Hutchison, ranking Republican member of the Senate's subcommittee for military construction, veterans affairs and related agencies, was instrumental in securing $13.5 million in funding for the new building, which will house all of the 80th FTW's operations under one roof and replaces a 60-year-old converted B-52 warehouse.

"Of course Sheppard's mission is so important to all of NATO and that is why I am so insistent that we keep our facilities up so that NATO will know how much we value their participation here," Hutchison said. "We're going to keep improving and building the facilities that allow the NATO partners to know how important this mission is," she said.

Col. Kevin Schneider, 80th Flying Training Wing commander, said the new energy-efficient, state-of-the-art facility, scheduled for completion in April 2012, will house the operations group, improving quality of life for ENJJPT program students and instructors, and increasing efficiency by consolidating operations under one roof.

"The operations group is pretty much responsible for all the flying training that goes on here," Schneider said. "I take a lot of pride in saying that this is the world's premiere pilot training program and it has been for 30 years since its inception. The facilities we have are good, but they are lagging a little behind in terms of what we do both with the instructor cadre and with our syllabus."

He said the multinational training environment at ENJJPT provides a basis for the future of air combat.

"This is the foundation for NATO air power and it's the foundation for what we do in combat each and every day," Schneider said. "We the United States and our partner nations look at the future, especially of combat operations, and see unilateral operations. We're going in as an alliance, as a coalition, as partners, so building a partner capacity is absolutely crucial."

He said the operations facility is the first of three projects to improve infrastructure at the 80th FTW. The second is a proposed flying training squadron facility to house all five of the 80th's flying training squadrons, and the third project is a proposed new wing headquarters building.

Col. Tom Menker Jr., 80th Flying Training Wing vice commander, said the new facility will boost the academic environment for ENJJPT students.

"One of the biggest and best aspects of this military construction project is that our students will be operating in a state-of-the-art academic environment that will enable them to much more successfully learn the various lessons we're trying to impart to them," Menker said.

Schneider thanked the local communities and Hutchison for their unwavering support of the 80th Flying Training Wing mission and said the new facility demonstrates the United States' continued commitment to the ENJJPT program.

"I'm very grateful and honored that Senator Hutchison was able to take the initiative and move forward on this new operations group facility. In my 20-plus years in the Air Force I have yet to see a community or a congressional delegation that provided greater support for the military, and that's certainly true in this case," Schneider said. "It is a big sign to the partner nations that the United States Air Force is committed to ENJJPT for the long haul."
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2.: Japanese FM Surveys - And Eyes - Russian Islands

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Sat Dec 4, 2010 8:21 am (PST)

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15746517

Itar-Tass
December 4, 2010

Japanese FM surveys SKurile Islands staying on board a plane

-Seiji Maehara surveyed the South Kurile Islands in October 2009, staying on board a patrol boat (that time he held the post of minister of state lands and transport). After that he said that the islands "are under illegal occupation" of Russia.

TOKYO:Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara surveyed on Saturday the "northern territories" (this is the way the Russian South Kurile Islands are called in Japan), staying on board a plane which remained in the air space of Japan.

Maehara is going to meet on Saturday withe Japanese who lived in the South Kurile Islands at one time. He plans to explain to them "the approach of the Japanese government to the development of diplomacy with regard to Russia."
....
The Russian foreign ministry reported recently that Moscow had nothing against the visual surveying of the Kurile Islands by Japanese politicians. "We have no objections to Japanese politicians viewing from afar, from their own territory, the beauty of our landscapes," said Alexei Sazonov, deputy director of the information and pres department of the Russian foreign ministry.

Members of the Japanese government regularly stage such "inspections" of those territories from the sea or from the air. Part of the Kurile Islands can be seen without binoculars in good weather from the area near the city of Nemuro, in the north-eastern extremity of the Hokkaido Island. Earlier this week Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan also expressed the intention to survey the South Kurile Islands from Hokkaido in the near future.

Seiji Maehara surveyed the South Kurile Islands in October 2009, staying on board a patrol boat (that time he held the post of minister of state lands and transport). After that he said that the islands "are under illegal occupation" of Russia. The Russian foreign ministry responded with a strongly worded indignant statement, describing Maehara's words as "unacceptable, inappropriate and meaningless from the legal point of view."
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3.: China, Russia Excluded From Clinton's Tripartite Talks On Korea

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Sat Dec 4, 2010 8:21 am (PST)

http://en.rian.ru/world/20101204/161622913.html

Russian Information Agency Novosti
December 4, 2010

Clinton to discuss N.Korea Monday with S.Korea, Japan - CNN

Moscow: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will discuss North Korea in a meeting with the South Korean and Japanese foreign ministers on Monday, CNN reported.

The Russian and Chinese foreign ministers have not been invited to the meeting, despite being members of the six-party talks on North Korea.

A senior State Department official told the channel that the meeting was meant to bring the three "cornerstones of security in the region," adding that "China should not view this as a snub."

Clinton will hold separate bilateral talks with Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan and Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara before opening the three-party talks.

Tensions escalated in the region in mid-November when North Korea launched artillery fire at a South Korean island, injuring four soldiers and provoking a retaliatory attack from the South.

The sides will also the perceived threat from North Korea's nuclear program. The secretive state recently revealed the existence of a new uranium enrichment plant.

North Korea pulled out of talks with Russia, Japan, China, the United States and South Korea over its nuclear program last April after the United Nations condemned the communist state's missile tests.

North Korea wants the talks to resume but the United States has refused, insisting that Pyongyang show it is serious about ending provocations and the development of its nuclear program.

On Wednesday, South Korea and the United States concluded four-day joint naval drills to the west of the Korean peninsula in a show of force to deter the North from launching further attacks across its disputed maritime border with the South.

The United States has also launched large-scale joint military exercises with Japan off Japan's southern island of Okinawa.
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4.: FW: Afghanistan - Counting the Dead: Public Meeting

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Sat Dec 4, 2010 8:21 am (PST)

Afghanistan - Counting the Dead: Public Meeting

From: "Stop the War Coalition" <office@stopwar.org.uk>Add sender to ContactsTo: stwc@lists.riseup.netSTOP THE WAR COALITION
03 December 2010
020 7801 2768
Website: http://stopwar.org.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/STWuk
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/stopthewarcoalition

AFGHANISTAN: COUNTING THE DEAD
AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL PARLIAMENTARY GROUP
BRIEFING MEETING IN HOUSE OF COMMONS
TUESDAY 7 DECEMBER 2010 7.00PM TO 8.30PM
COMMITTEE ROOM 9, HOUSE OF COMMONS, LONDON SW1A 0AA
(NEAREST TUBE WESTMINSTER)

Chair: Paul Flynn MP
Speaker: John Sloboda, Oxford Research Group

MPs from the Afghanistan Withdrawal Group are holding a public meeting in
parliament on 7th December on counting the dead in the Afghanistan conflict.

Nato provides no figures for civilian casualties in Afghanistan or Iraq. But thanks to Wikileaks, we now know they do keep count.

The discussion on 7 December in the House of Commons will be led by John
Sloboda, Director of the Oxford Research Group's Recording Casualties in Armed Conflict Programme.

The meeting is open to all MPs and the general public.
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5.: China Issues Warning Over U.S.-South Korea-Japan Talks

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Sat Dec 4, 2010 8:21 am (PST)

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\12\04\story_4-12-2010_pg4_2

Agence France-Presse
December 4, 2010

China issues warning over US-S Korea-Japan talks

BEIJING: China, after being snubbed in its call for six-way talks on North Korea, has warned the United States, Japan and South Korea not to 'intensify confrontation' at a meeting next week in Washington.
....
China, under pressure to bring its ally to heel, proposed to hold multilateral talks in Beijing in early December.

But that was rejected by the United States, South Korea and Japan, which will meet themselves in Washington on Monday.

'We'll keep a close watch on this meeting,' Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in a statement issued late Thursday. 'As the situation on the Korean peninsula is highly complicated and sensitive, we expect the meeting to ease tensions and promote dialogue, rather than heighten tensions and intensify confrontation,' Jiang said.
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6.: Missiles In Romania: U.S.-NATO-EU Shared Missile Shield

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Sat Dec 4, 2010 3:46 pm (PST)

http://www.thediplomat.ro/articol.php?id=1611

The Diplomat
December 2010

Romanian missile shield becomes "welcome contribution" to NATO defence

NATO has signalled that the new US-Romania anti-ballistic missile shield project will become a "welcome national contribution" to the defence architecture of the bloc

At the recent NATO Summit in Lisbon, which drew up a new strategy in the light of a post-Cold War world, the bloc argued that the proliferation of ballistic missiles poses "a real and growing threat" to the Euro-Atlantic area.

The admission that the Romanian-based missile shield will become part of the new NATO defence system places great responsibility on Romania as a strategic hub for collective defence.

President Traian Basescu said the next phase of US-Romanian negotiations - identifying where in Romania the missile shield will be located - will be "accelerated" following the summit.

NATO plans to switch its anti-ballistic missile programme – which currently protects NATO deployed forces - to also cover the population and territory of its member states.

The bloc wants to avoid duplication with EU and other bilateral defence systems, indicating that a shared missile defence system between the EU, US and NATO is becoming more probable.

The anti-ballistic threat is believed to mainly come from Iran, although North Korea and possibly Syria have also been cited as potential threats.

Earlier this year the USA shifted its missile defence strategy from using sites in Poland and the Czech Republic to Romania, where it intends to host an anti-ballistic missile system by 2015.

This pioneering land-based system of 24 Standard Missile - 3 (SM - 3) missiles aims to enhance security for the region and the US against the threat of mid-range missiles, which security analysts have argued could - theoretically - be fitted with a nuclear payload.

A land-based SM-3 installation in Romania is part of Barack Obama's 'Phased, Adaptive Approach' (PAA) against a missile threat, which will be accompanied by a new anti-missile base in northern Europe by 2018.

A radar is also part of the system, which Romania will not host.

At the Summit, NATO also stated it would continue to explore opportunities for missile defence co-operation with Russia, by inviting Russia to "explore jointly" the potential for linking current and planned missile defence systems.

Under the new NATO-Russia Council (NRC), the two blocs will agree "to discuss" pursuing missile defence cooperation due to the ballistic missile threat.

However there is strong disagreement between NATO and Russia over frozen conflicts in the Black Sea region – including in Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, South Ossetia and Transnistria in the Republic of Moldova.

NATO is committed to respecting the borders of Georgia, while Russia has recognised the independence of Georgia's breakaway republics, Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Romania also welcomed the restart on relations between Russia and NATO, but Basescu said that a "legal solution" needed to be found for Transnistria and Georgia, with the clear statement from Russia that its declarations of "good intentions must be backed by action," according to Basescu.

NATO has not invited Georgia to join the bloc and remains in a "strategic partnership" with the country. Meanwhile Romania remains a firm supporter of expansion in NATO - particularly in the west Balkans and Black Sea zone.
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7.: War? Americans Don't Care

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Sat Dec 4, 2010 3:46 pm (PST)

http://rt.com/usa/news/protest-war-usa-europe-nato/

RT
December 3, 2010

Americans ignorant as Europeans protest US wars

-According to pollsters the wars don't rate with US media either, which has given Afghanistan just 3 percent of their attention for the first near half of the year, choosing instead to focus on other stories, such as actress Lindsay Lohan's drug rehab stints.
-"The Taliban were the creation of the Mujahadeen, which itself was funded by the US during the Soviet occupation. What goes around comes around," said Jeremy Corbyn, a NATO protester and member of the British Parliament.
-"So many people in the United States are so distant, so removed from the realities of the war."

While Americans struggle to answer how long the US has been in Iraq or Afghanistan, how much money has been spent, and how many lives lost, Europeans feeling the cost of US wars at home take to the streets in protest.

In the US, despite two combat missions costing thousands of lives, more than a trillion dollars, and nearly ten years, for many average Americans the realities of US wars aren't hitting home.

"I'm trying to think Afghanistan, Iraq, I don't know if it's over or still going," said Rene Moreno when interviewed on the street in Times Square, a California resident visiting New York.

The details, for instance, how long the US has been fighting in Afghanistan aren't known.

"Why you come and ask me a question like that," laughed New Yorker who identified herself simply as Karen, "I don't know."

And the consequences aren't quantifiable. When asked how many US troops have been killed in Afghanistan, Lauralee Summerhill, a Californian living in New York tap danced around the question before admitting, "oh gosh, I just couldn't put my finger on it."

The wars don't rate high with Americans as the biggest problems facing the country.

"The Afghan war is kind of like a video game to a lot of people they feel unconnected," explained investigative reporter Bob Woodward, the author of "Obama's Wars". "I think if we had the draft we would look at it very differently."

According to pollsters the wars don't rate with US media either, which has given Afghanistan just 3 percent of their attention for the first near half of the year, choosing instead to focus on other stories, such as actress Lindsay Lohan's drug rehab stints.

Apparently in turn, so too have viewers.

"Is Lindsay Lohan in rehab," RT asked New Yorker, Karen. "No she's out of rehab." She answered without skipping a beat.

Still polls show 62 percent of Americans are now against the war in Afghanistan. More prominent voices are rising up against the US military stance in the world.

"We're at the sundown as an imperialist power and we can't have credit card imperialism, we can't be the policeman of the world anymore because we can't afford it, we're going to have to cut defense dramatically," proclaimed David Stockman, former budget director for President Ronald Reagan, in an interview with ABC.

This argument doesn't appear to pass muster with lawmakers in Washington. But with hundreds of military bases spread over the world and more than half of the US discretionary budget spent on defense, amidst a sluggish economy and $13 trillion dollars of debt, increasingly critics see it coming at this price.

"We have an empire," quipped comedian and satirist Bill Maher on his TV show "Real Time." "We have half a million of our troops in other people's countries."

Discontent with US policies has spread overseas where in Portugal thousands of protesters took to the streets against US military bases, and against European defense spending on US wars.

"We think that's occupation for economical interests," one protester from Portugal said of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Economic interests of one country, she said, supported by its NATO allies."They also have interests or they support the world's largest economy's interests, and can't be at the cost of human lives for some to get rich."

Thousands of European citizens who call NATO countries home hit the streets during the NATO summit to protest the costs incurred at their country's expense.

Some say the allies are fighting problems that are of the US's own making.

"The Taliban were the creation of the Mujahadeen, which itself was funded by the US during the Soviet occupation. What goes around comes around," said Jeremy Corbyn, a NATO protester and member of the British Parliament.

Europeans facing austerity measures at home and losses on the battlefield don't want to pay to solve American problems.

"We need the money that is spent on NATO budgets spent for solving the civil problems of the world," said protest organizer Reiner Braun, of Germany.

But for now, very real costs of money and lives are being spent and being protested internationally in the name of US foreign policy, whether people know it or not.

Adam Kokesh, a radio host and Iraq war veteran, argued American foreign policy has nothing to do with keeping Americans safe, and Americans need to recognize that reality.

He said the expansion of the US military abroad goes heavily unnoticed by most Americans.

"There is bubble mentality in America, and I think it's deliberate. The people who really run this country are more than happy to keep the American people not engaged politically, not really paying attention, not holding our elected officials accountable and not speaking out," Kokesh said.

Military spending is bankrupting the US. The government spends and expands based on personal financial greed; people take advantage of the system for their own profit, he argued. US military expansion through "greed" in the military industrial complex does not make America any safer, it enriches individuals.

David Vine, a professor at American University in Washington, DC and author of "Island of Shame: The Secret History of the US Military Base on Diego Garcia" said most Americans are oblivious to the size and extend of the US military abroad, both in war zones and on permanent bases.

The United States has over 1000 military bases or sites outside of the US.

"Many of the bases are the products of World War two and have been there for over 60 years. Other bases in places like South Korea have been there for half a century. Few people question their existence, let alone the costs they are inflicting on US taxpayers or the costs they are inflicting on those who have to live next door," said Vine.

Many people in the US see no connection between the many bases and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars with the security of US, he argued. That is why more and more continue to oppose the wars. However, many in the US are still unaware of the reality of these bases and wars.

"So many people in the United States are so distant, so removed from the realities of the war," Vine added.
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8.: Spiralling Out Of Control: The Risk Of A New Korean War

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Sat Dec 4, 2010 3:46 pm (PST)

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=22252

Global Research
December 4, 2010

Spiralling out of Control: The Risk of a New Korean War
By Gregory Elich

An artillery duel between North and South Korean forces on November 23 has set in motion a series of events which threaten to spiral out of control.

On November 22, South Korea began its annual military exercise, involving including 70,000 troops, dozens of South Korean and U.S. warships and some 500 aircraft. The following day, South Korean artillery stationed on Yeonpyeong Island began a live ammunition drill, firing shells into the surrounding sea.

The island is situated quite near to the North Korean mainland, and lies in disputed waters. At the end of the Korean War in 1953, U.S. General Mark Clark unilaterally established the western sea border to North Korea's disadvantage. Rather than in a perpendicular line, the Northern Limit Line was drawn to curve sharply upwards, handing over islands and a prime fishing area to the South that would otherwise have gone to North Korea. The North, having had no say in the delineation of its sea border, has never recognized the Northern Limit Line. (1)

South Korean troops have been based on the island since the end of the Korean War. There is also a small fishing village in close proximity to the military base; unavoidably so, given that the island is less than three square miles in size.

In response to the South Korean announcement of an impending artillery drill, North Korea telephoned the South Korean military on the morning of November 23, urging them to cancel plans to fire shells into what the North regarded as its territorial waters. The North warned that if the drill proceeded, they would respond with a "resolute physical counter-strike." (2)

Nevertheless, the artillery drill proceeded and four hours later, North Korean artillery fired on the island. In the first round, 150 shells were shot, of which 60 hit the island. Then 20 more shells were fired in a second round. In all, four people on the island were killed and 18 wounded. (3)

The South Korean military telegraphed the North, asking them to cease, but to no avail. Then their artillery returned fire at the North, firing 80 shells. One shell directly hit a North Korean military barracks. Although many of the shells appeared to have inflicted little damage, an official at the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff noted, "Satellite images show our shells landed on a cluster of barracks in North Korea, so we presume there have been many casualties and considerable property damage." (4)

Facing a barrage of criticism from domestic hawks for having responded in too tepid a manner, South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-young resigned from his position. Yet the South Korean response probably could not have been increased significantly without risking a wider conflict.

During the drill, South Korean artillery on Yeonpyeong Island fired in a southward direction, away from the North Korean mainland, and this was not the first time that such drills had been conducted. North Korean forces could have made their point sufficiently by splashing some shells into the sea. Instead, they overreacted in a manner that manifested an inexcusable disregard for human life by targeting the island.

Why the North did so can best be explained by recent developments in relations between the two Koreas. This was, after all, the first artillery duel between the two nations in forty years, so something led to it.

President Lee Myung-bak of the conservative Grand National Party took office in February 2008, vowing to reverse the Sunshine Policy of warming relations with North Korea. The government of Lee's predecessor, Roh Moo-hyun, had signed several agreements on economic cooperation with North Korea, including joint mining operations in the North. Lee killed every one these agreements, ensuring that they would never be implemented. The railroad leading from the South to the North, which had just been reconnected under former President Roh, is now closed for good. That project had promised to benefit both Koreas, providing the South with a cheaper and more convenient route for shipping goods to China and Russia, and giving the North added income through user fees. South Korean tourist operations at Mt. Kumgang in the North are closed. Reunions of family members separated by the border have stopped. The only remaining remnant of the Sunshine Policy is the
presence of South Korean firms operating at an industrial park in Kaesong, North Korea, and its days are probably numbered.

Then there was the incident in which the South Korean corvette Cheonan was sunk, in May of this year. In a stacked investigation, South Korea concluded that a North Korean submarine had targeted the vessel with a torpedo. The evidence, however, does not fully back that assertion and a Russian team's investigation determined that an accidental encounter with a sea mine was a more likely cause. (5) North Korea's repeated requests to participate in an investigation, or to at least view the evidence, were consistently rebuffed. Instead the Lee Administration utilized the incident to further sour relations between the two Koreas.

Perhaps most significantly, when Roh Moo-hyun was president of South Korea, emergency communication channels were established between the two Koreas, specifically for the purpose of opening dialogue and limiting or preventing armed conflicts whenever they arose or threatened to do so. On a number of occasions, those communication channels stopped potential conflicts before they either occurred or escalated. Those channels no longer exist, thanks to Lee's dismantling of agreements with North Korea, and as a result four South Koreans and an unknown number of North Koreans are now dead. (6)

That North Korea would feel threatened is not surprising. Its economy is crippled by the imposition of draconian Western sanctions, and the annual South Korean-U.S. military exercises are intended to intimidate. Furthermore, the rhetoric from Washington has been unremittingly hostile, and now with a more conservative government, so is South Korea's.

Nor is North Korea unaware of the fact that in February 2003, President Bush told Chinese President Jiang Zemin that if the nuclear issue could not be solved diplomatically, he would "have to consider a military strike against North Korea." (7) One month later, Bush ordered a fleet into the region, including the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson. Six F-117 Stealth bombers were sent to South Korea, and nearly 50 fighters and bombers to Guam. The possibility of military action was on the table, Bush told a South Korean official. (8) Due to the efforts of China and South Korea's progressive president at the time, Bush chose dialogue, albeit offset to a large degree by his imposition of further sanctions against North Korea. It has also certainly not gone unnoticed by North Korea that any halting diplomatic efforts have ceased altogether once President Obama took office. And with the pronounced deterioration in relations set in motion by President Lee
Myung-bak, his administration has made it clear that he has no interest in diplomacy either.

Following the clash over Yeonpyeong, China called for dialogue and a reduction of tensions, sending envoys to both South and North Korea. It proposed that the six nations that had at one time participated in denuclearization talks, South and North Korea, the U.S., Japan, China and Russia, meet for emergency discussions "to exchange views on major issues of concern to the parties at present." The meetings would not be a resumption of talks on denuclearization, although China hoped that "they will create conditions for their resumption." Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei stated, "The starting point for China proposing emergency consultations is to ease the tensions on the Korean Peninsula and provide a platform of engagement and dialogue." (9)

The Chinese proposal should have been welcomed as the only sensible approach to the problem. But officials of the Obama Administration condemned China for being "irresponsible" by putting forth such a proposal. Instead, they urged China to get on board with the program of pressuring North Korea and further escalating tensions and the risk of war. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs snottily dismissed the proposal by saying that the U.S. and other nations "are not interested in stabilizing the region through a series of P.R. activities." (10)

South Korea, too, rejected China's proposal. The U.S., South Korea, and Japan willfully misrepresented China's proposal as merely being a call for a resumption of the six-party talks on denuclearization. Domestic audiences were not hearing that the proposal's purpose was to prevent further conflict. Instead, Japan said that talks would be "impossible" under the circumstances, while a South Korean official said that President Lee "made it clear that now is not the time for discussing" six-party talks. (11) Indeed. Not when one's goal is to further inflame the situation. To further that objective, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is meeting with the foreign secretaries of South Korea and Japan to map out a common program in dealing with North Korea. (12) It goes without saying that dialogue with North Korea will not be part of that program.

President Lee has promised to take a much harder line on North Korea, and already the South has sent 400,000 propaganda leaflets across the border on balloons. (13) There has also been talk of resuming loudspeaker broadcasts across the border. The sending of leaflets was in violation of a 2004 agreement between the two sides to halt propaganda campaigns aimed at each other.

By the end of December, South Korea plans to hold another round of artillery drills on islands lying in disputed waters, including, dismayingly enough, Yeonpyeong Island. Nothing could be calculated to be more provoking under the circumstances. In preparation for the response to the drills that are expected from North Korea, island defenses are being beefed up. South Korea has added multiple rocket launchers, howitzers, missile systems and advanced precision-guided artillery to the Yeonpyeong arsenal. (14)

According to a South Korean official, "We decided to stage the same kind of fire drill as the one we carried out on the island on November 23 to display our determination." (15)

The new drills appear calculated to provoke a conflict, and this time South Korea is intent on an asymmetrical response. The military is revising its rules of engagement so as to jettison concerns about starting a wider conflict. If former Defense Minister Kim Tae-young is to believed, if there is another North Korean strike, then warships and fighter jets of both South Korea and the U.S. will launch attacks on the North. (16)

Incoming Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin is if anything even more determined to fan the flames of conflict into a wider conflagration. The South Korean military will immediately launch "psychological warfare," including, presumably, loudspeaker broadcasts across the border. The North has promised to target loudspeakers if they are put in operation, and that would in turn provide the pretext for the South Korean military to launch combat operations. If there is another exchange of fire with the North, Kim announced, "We will definitely air raid North Korea." All combat forces available would be mobilized, he promised. The newly minted rules of engagement are also going to permit "preemptive" strikes on North Korea based on the presumption of a possible attack. In other words, if North Korea fails to provide a pretext for military action, the Lee Administration can attack the North without provocation, if it chooses to do so. (17)

Lee Myung-bak has already achieved his dream of demolishing the Sunshine Policy. Relations between the two Koreas are at their lowest point since the end of military dictatorship in South Korea. Now he aims to deliberately trigger armed conflict in order to demonstrate "toughness," and not incidentally, drive the final nail into the coffin of the Sunshine Policy. Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin feels that the risk of war is low. "It will be difficult for North Korea to conduct a full-scale war because there are some elements of insecurity in the country, such as the national economy and power transfer." (18) Those may be arguments against North Korea's ability to successfully sustain a long-term war over the course of a year or two, but it seriously misreads the ability and will of the North Korean military to put up a determined fight. The extent of possible South Korean air strikes on the North is not clear, but anything other than an extremely limited
and localized action is likely to trigger total war. And that is a war that the U.S. will inevitably be drawn into. Even presuming a quick defeat of the North (which would be unlikely), eighty percent of North Korea is mountainous, providing ideal terrain for North Korean forces to conduct guerrilla warfare. The U.S. could find itself involved in another failing military occupation. With both sides heavily armed, the consequences could be much worse for Koreans, and casualties could reach alarming totals. Four million Koreans died in the Korean War. Even one percent of that total in a new war would be unconscionable, and Lee Myung-bak is deluded if he believes he can ride the tiger of armed conflict and remain in control of the path it takes.

Notes

(1) For a map of the Northern Limit Line and Yeonpyeong's placement, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_the_shelling_of_Yeonpyeong.svg The blue line identifies the Northern Limit Line recognized by South Korea and the U.S., and the red line, the border as recognized by North Korea. Yeonpyeong Island is marked #1 on the map.

(2) "Panmunjom Mission of KPA Sends Notice to U.S. Forces Side," KCNA (Pyongyang), November 25, 2010.

(3) "Military Under Fire for Response to N. Korean Attack," Chosun Ilbo (Seoul), November 25, 2010.

(4) "Military Suggests Counterfire Caused 'Many Casualties' in N. Korea," Yonhap (Seoul), December 2, 2010. Jung Sung-ki, "Satellite Image Shows Damages in NK Artillery Site," Korea Times (Seoul), December 2, 2010.

(5) http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=20367

(6) "Containment After N.Korea's Unacceptable Provocation," Hankyoreh (Seoul), November 24, 2010.

(7) Hwang Doo-hyong, "Bush Expresses Frustration at China's Reluctance to Dissuade N. Korea from Going Nuclear: Memoir," Yonhap (Seoul), November 10, 2010.

(8) "Bush Admits He Considered a Military Strike Against North Korea," Korean Broadcasting System (Seoul), March 18, 2004. "Carl Vinson Strike Group CVN-70 'Gold Eagle'," www.globalsecurity.org Will Dunham, "U.S. Military Operations for N.Korea Fraught with Peril," Reuters, April 25, 2003.

(9) Kim Young-gyo, "China Calls for Emergency Talks on N. Korean Nukes," Yonhap (Seoul), November 28, 2010. "China Calls for Resumption of Dialogue, Negotiations for Korean Peninsula Situation," Xinhua (Beijing), November 30, 2010. "Chinese FM Talks with DPRK, ROK, U.S. Diplomats on Korean Peninsular Situation," Xinhua (Beijing), November 26, 2010.

(10) Helene Cooper and Sharon LaFraniere, "U.S. and South Korea Balk at Talks with North," New York Times, November 30, 2010.

(11) Hwang Joon bum and Park Min-hee, "Lee Administration Rejects Six-Party Talks Proposal," Hankyoreh (Seoul), November 29, 2010. Tania Branigan, "US Rejects Talks with North Korea," The Guardian (London), November 30, 2010.

(12) "Kim, Clinton Agree to Reject China's Proposal for Talks on N. Korea," Yonahp (Seoul), December 1, 2010.

(13) "S. Korea Sent Propaganda Leaflets to N. Korea After Artillery Attack," Yonhap (Seoul), November 26, 2010.

(14) Jung Sung-ki, "Seoul Plans Live-Fire Drill Next Week," Korea Times (Seoul), December 1, 2010. "New Defence Minister to Decide When to Stage Firing Drills in Yellow Sea," Yonhap (Seoul), December 3, 2010. "Tension Mounts as Firing Drill Planned," JoongAng Ilbo (Seoul), December 2, 2010.

(15) "S. Korea to Stage Fresh Firing Drill on Yeonpyeong Island," Chosun Ilbo (Seoul), November 30, 2010.

(16) Jung Sung-ki, "Seoul Vows Naval, Air Strikes on NK," Korea Times (Seoul), November 29, 2010.

(17) "Defense Minister Nominee Vows Air Strikes if Attacked by N. Korea," Yonhap (Seoul), December 3, 2010. Kim Kwang-tae, "SKorea Defense Nominee Vows Airstrikes on North," Associated Press, December 2, 2010. Song Sang-ho, "Kim Warns Air Strike on North Korea," Korea Herald (Seoul), December 3, 2010. Na Jeong-ju, "Defense Chief-Nominee Vows Air Strikes if Attacked," Korea Times (Seoul), December 3, 2010. Mark McDonald, "South Korean Outlines Muscular Military Postures," New York Times, December 3, 2010.

(18) "Defense Minister Nominee Vows Air Strikes if Attacked by N. Korea," Yonhap (Seoul), December 3, 2010.

Gregory Elich is on the Board of Directors of the Jasenovac Research Institute and on the Advisory Board of the Korea Truth Commission. He is the author of the book Strange Liberators: Militarism, Mayhem, and the Pursuit of Profit.

http://www.amazon.com/Strange-Liberators-Militarism-Mayhem-Pursuit/dp/1595265708
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9.: Somalia: 20 Civilians Among 35 Killed In Ugandan Offensive

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Sat Dec 4, 2010 3:54 pm (PST)

http://en.trend.az/regions/world/ocountries/1792628.html

Trend News Agency
December 5, 2010

35 die in battle for Mogadishu

At least 35 people have been killed and many others injured when heavy clashes broke out between African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) troops and al-Shabab fighters, Press TV reported.

The fighting took place in Mogadishu on Thursday after African Union troops blocked Industry Road, which connects various quarters in the Somali capital. Twenty civilians lost their lives and at least eight al-Shabab members were also killed, Radio Garowe reported late on Friday.

Several others were killed as intense violence continued in Mogadishu's Bondhere, Shibis, Hodan, and Daynile districts, according to witnesses and medical workers.

"The operations to extend our area of control have been successful," AMISOM spokesman Major Barigye Bahoku said.

Somali ambulance workers transported 17 wounded civilians to local hospitals for treatment, according to the head of Mogadishu's ambulance service, Ali Muse.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has reported that hundreds of civilians were injured in fighting in Somalia in recent months.

The Geneva-based humanitarian institution said that a total of 5,000 patients with war injuries, including 1,900 women and children, were admitted to Mogadishu's Keysaney and Medina hospitals from January through September.

Compared to last year, it is an increase of 25 percent in the total number of war casualties and 72 percent in the number of war-wounded women and children admitted to the hospitals.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

Over the past two decades, up to one million people have lost their lives in fighting between rival factions and due to famine and disease.

There are more than 1.4 million internally displaced people (IDPs) in Somalia. Over 300,000 of the IDPs are sheltered in Mogadishu.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reported that most of the displaced live in poor and degrading conditions on makeshift sites in southern and central Somalia.
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10.: NATO Troops Raid Home Of Afghan Reporter, Arrest Four

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Sat Dec 4, 2010 4:00 pm (PST)

http://www.pajhwok.com/en/2010/12/04/nato-troops-arrest-pajhwok-reporter

Pajhwok Afghan News
December 4, 2010

NATO troops arrest Pajhwok reporter
by Javed Hamim Kakar

KABUL: International troops detained a Pajhwok reporter along with his three brothers during a raid in southeastern province of Khost, journalists said on Saturday.

KABUL(PAN): International troops detained a Pajhwok reporter along with his three brothers during a raid in southeastern province of Khost, journalists said on Saturday.

The arrests took place Friday night when International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) soldiers raided the house of Pajhwok reporter Mali Khan in the Yabubi area of Sabari district.

Resident Muhammad Saleem told Pajhwok Afghan News the foreign troops detained the reporter along with his three brothers -- one of them an employee of the transport department and another recently returned from Dubai.

Meanwhile, Khost Journalists Association president Nishanuddin Ahingar condemned the detention of Mali Khan, alleging the victimisation of journalists by foreign troops had recently increased.

Last year, foreign forces detained another reporter, Noorajan Baheer. They also raided the house of Al-Jazeera reporter, Majeed Arif, and arrested his four brothers, Ahingar added.

The Bagram media office of NATO confirmed the arrests, saying the reporter was being investigated.
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11.: Clinton In Tashkent: C. Asia Important Pillar Of U.S. Security Inter

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Sat Dec 4, 2010 4:19 pm (PST)

http://news.uzreport.com/mir.cgi?lan=e&id=83730

UzReport
December 3, 2010

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton returns to Uzbekistan

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on 2 December made her second trip to Uzbekistan, having visited as First Lady in November 1997, when she traveled to Tashkent, Samarkand, and Bukhara.

Her current trip marks the first visit by a Secretary of State since Colin Powell in December 2001, and reaffirms the importance of the US relationship with Uzbekistan.

Prior to arriving in Uzbekistan, Secretary Clinton paid visits to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. She served as the head of the US delegation to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) 2010 Summit of the Heads of State or Government held in Astana on 1-2 December.

The summit was only the seventh of its kind convened by the OSCE since the organization's inception in 1973, the last taking place in Istanbul in 1999. This year the parties focused on improving border security, promoting regional trade, and countering trafficking in Central Asia, and were hosted by current OSCE chair Kazakhstan.

In Uzbekistan, Secretary Clinton met with President Islam Karimov to discuss a wide range of matters in the US-Uzbek relationship and in regional affairs.
....
Secretary Clinton's visit to Uzbekistan is part of the continued efforts to deepen relations between the United States and Uzbekistan in all of the key dimensions in our bilateral relationship – political, security, economic and human.

"This administration considers Central Asia to be an important pillar of our security policy and regional US interests," Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake said at subcommittee hearing of the US House of Representatives' Foreign Affairs Committee on 17 November.

"We must increase our engagement with Central Asia at all levels," said David Sedney, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia, at the same hearing.

After her meetings in Tashkent, the Secretary departed for Bahrain, where she will deliver the keynote address at the 2010 Manama Dialogue, a regional security summit sponsored by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) and the Kingdom of Bahrain.
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12.: B-52s Return To Guam: Mission Throughout Asia-Pacific Area

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" r_rozoff@yahoo.com r_rozoff

Sat Dec 4, 2010 5:20 pm (PST)

http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123233359

American Forces Press Service
December 3, 2010

Bomb squadrons rotate at Andersen AFB
by Airman 1st Class Anthony Jennings
36th Wing Public Affairs

-"It is a great milestone in a year full of milestones for the newest B-52 squadron. Deploying to Andersen and supporting the CPB mission allows us to show our allies and enemies that (69th EBS members) are open for business and ready to execute the mission worldwide."

ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam: More than 200 Airmen and two B-52H Stratofortress aircraft arrived here recently to replace the 23rd Expeditionary Bomb Squadron.

The Airman are assigned to the 69th Bomb Squadron from Minot Air Force Base, N.D., and are supporting U.S. Pacific Command's continuous bomber presence.

"Our number one priority is to support theater objectives and maintain peace and stability in the region," said Lt. Col. Michael Cardoza, the 69th EBS commander. "After that, we are looking forward to honing our combat skills in a variety of conventional mission sets.

"We have spent the last year primarily focused on perfecting our nuclear mission. Now we are able to shift our focus somewhat and are very motivated to support the Andersen AFB CBP mission," he said. "This deployment will give us a lot of outstanding training opportunities throughout the Pacific area of responsibility."

The swap out is historic for several reasons.

The 69th and 23rd EBS are units from the 5th Bomb Wing at Minot AFB, and the swap out marks the first time the wing will have two units on back-to-back deployments in support of the CBP in Guam, officials said. The 69th EBS, which was recently reactivated at Minot AFB Sept. 4, 2009, will be on its first deployment back here since the Vietnam War.

"It is a great milestone in a year full of milestones for the newest B-52 squadron," Colonel Cardoza said. "Deploying to Andersen and supporting the CPB mission allows us to show our allies and enemies that (69th EBS members) are open for business and ready to execute the mission worldwide."

The 23rd EBS is scheduled to depart Andersen AFB later this month after its nearly six month deployment here.

"Being able to replace our fellow Minot (AFB) squadron has been a huge advantage," Colonel Cardoza said. "The 23rd EBS continuously fed us lessons learned throughout their deployment and built a very strong foundation for us to work from. It also allowed us to swap personnel without having to move large amounts of equipment and airplanes."

During their deployment here, the 23rd EBS members had the opportunity to get unique training they couldn't get anywhere else, officials said.

Logging more than 1,400 hours of flight time, dropping more than 700 bombs and performing 200 sorties, both aircrew members and maintainers had to be on their toes to meet their flight schedule.

"This deployment has been so dynamic," said 1st Lt. Corrine Hester, a 69th EBS dual-seat navigator. "From working with multinational and joint forces, to sinking a boat in the middle of the ocean, this has been the best training we could get for what we do. It's been a great time and we will be back, but for now, it's time to go home and give our brothers and sisters a chance to take advantage of what a deployment here has to offer."
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