World War 3 News

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2009-10-27T07:08:00.001-07:00

The new doctrine would allow Russia to carry out a "preventative" nuclear strike against would-be aggressors, a loosening of Moscow's current policy on the use of atomic weapons.

NATO chief reaches out to Russia ahead of visit
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen reached out anew Thursday to Russia, urging alliance nations and Moscow to focus on common interests rather than their differences. "NATO and Russia have many common interests -- in Afghanistan, in combatting terrorism, and in preventing nuclear proliferation," he told defence and security experts at a conference in Bratislava, Slovakia. "So what we need is a relationship that allows us to pursue these long-standing common interests, and which will not be derailed everytime we disagree," he said, before chairing a meeting of NATO defence ministers. "I will visit Moscow in the next few weeks, and I look forard to the opportunity to discuss not just concrete ideas for taking this forward, but also to discuss our relationship more broadly," he said. NATO and its old Cold War foe have been at loggerheads for years over missile defence, arms treaties, their stance on the independence of Kosovo -- where the alliance has a peacekeeping force -- and their attitude toward Iran. But their relations soured badly last year, after Moscow sent its troops into Georgia, and then recognised the indepedence of two breakaway Georgian regions. A slow thaw in ties began early this year. Rasmussen has invited Russia to undertake a joint review of the new security threats they face, as the basis of a new partnership between them, and urged Moscow to take part in talks on NATO reform.

Russia's military must prepare for the kind of large-scale conflict that seemed improbable immediately after the Cold War ended, a top Russian security official said on Thursday. "In 1993, we said that military conflicts have been ruled out, but life has shown this is not the case," Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of Russia's National Security Council, was quoted as saying by news agencies.
"There have been regional and local conflicts, and we cannot rule out large-scale conflicts and we need to be ready for this," Patrushev told reporters after a meeting in Saint Petersburg.
Patrushev made the comments while discussing a new version of Russia's military doctrine, the main strategic planning document for the country's armed forces, which officials have been drafting in recent months.
The current doctrine dates to 2000 and the previous version before that was from 1993, when the collapse of Communism seemed to usher in an age of peaceful relations between Moscow and its former Cold War foe Washington.
Last week Patrushev said the new doctrine would allow Russia to carry out a "preventative" nuclear strike against would-be aggressors, a loosening of Moscow's current policy on the use of atomic weapons.
The new doctrine will be presented to President Dmitry Medvedev by the end of this year, said Patrushev, who is also a former head of Russia's powerful FSB security service, the successor to the Soviet KGB.
earlier related report
NATO faces major budget shortfall: spokesman
NATO faces a budget shortfall of millions of euros in coming years, which is expected to grow as demands on the military alliance increase in places like Afghanistan, a spokesman said Thursday.
"In the next few years we foresee a shortfall of several hundred million euros between what governments have committed to do within NATO budgets when it comes to operations and capabilities, and what they have allocated in terms of money to pay for that," spokesman James Appathurai said.
"That shortfall will only grow as NATO's responsibilities grow as well," he told reporters in Bratislava, where NATO defence ministers are meeting for talks which will include discussion of spending problems.
He said that NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen would urge the 28 member nations to try to set better priorities, pool their resources and assets and strive to be more cost-effective.
"The financial situation in the world ... makes it all the more important that a little bit of imagination and political courage is demonstrated when it comes to the money aspects of what we do," Appathurai said.
A NATO diplomat said Tuesday that the budget hole would amount to between 500 and 600 million euros (750-900 million dollars) in the alliance's infrastructure budget.
A separate budget is used to fund military operations and is, for the moment, unlikely to be greatly effected, he said, on condition of anonymity.
"NATO is facing a resource crunch next year," he said, describing it as "significantly worrying" and "a problem that we have never had before."
An expert also said that about 30 percent of the infrastructure budget was being used for the operation in Afghanistan, on items such as communications, but that the mission, NATO's most challenging, was not under threat.

China pointing about 1,500 missiles at Taiwan: Taipei official

2009-10-20T07:29:00.000-07:00

China now has about 1,500 missiles pointed at Taiwan, with no signs that the build-up is about to stop anytime soon, a spokesman for the island's government said Monday. The figure includes short-range ballistic missiles and cruise missiles, the defence ministry spokesman told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"The number of missiles has been rising. We don't know when it will stop increasing," said the spokesman.
He was speaking ahead of the release Tuesday of the ministry's annual report, which will include an updated estimate of China's military capabilities.
In its National Defence Report for 2008, the Taiwan government estimated that China had deployed 1,300 missiles in the area near the island.
China and Taiwan have been governed separately since the end of a civil war in 1949, but Beijing considers the island part of its territory and has vowed to take it back, by force if necessary.
Relations have improved dramatically since the China-friendly President Ma Ying-jeou took office in Taiwan a year ago.
The two sides have held three rounds of negotiations that resulted in regular direct flights, an easing of investment restrictions and a boost in tourism.
However, the missiles remain a major obstacle to improved relations, Ma has said repeatedly.
"I have said many times in the past, before and after my inauguration, that if we are to negotiate a peace agreement with the mainland including military confidence-building measures, they should remove or dismantle the more than 1,000 missiles targeting Taiwan," Ma said in May.

Russia says new US missile plan raises 'questions'

2009-10-12T14:34:00.001-07:00

'Not bad' chance for US-Russia nuclear deal: Medvedev
The chances of Moscow and Washington reaching a deal on a new nuclear disarmament treaty by a December deadline are "not bad," Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview broadcast Friday. US and Russian negotiators have been thrashing out the terms of a successor agreement to replace the landmark 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) before it expires on December 5. "We have given our negotiators the task of finishing a deal in time. I think the chances are really not bad," Medvedev said in a interview with Russia's Channel One state television network. "But it will be necessary to show wisdom on both sides, a desire to listen to one another and an understanding of certain contemporary realities," he said, without elaborating. Medvedev also hailed new US President Barack Obama for being more interested in disarmament than his predecessor, George W. Bush, saying that with the new administration "there is definitely a chance to reach a deal." START, signed in 1991 just before the break-up of the Soviet Union, bound both sides to deep cuts in their nuclear arsenals and forms a cornerstone of arms control efforts between the superpowers. A successful outcome to the talks would help boost Obama's stated vision of a world without nuclear weapons. The next round of closed-door negotiations on START is expected to begin October 19 in the Swiss city of Geneva.

The new US missile defence plan "raises more questions than answers," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday, warning that Moscow could still have objections to the revised missile shield. Lavrov's comments came ahead of a trip to Russia next week by his US counterpart Hillary Clinton, and indicated that ties between the two former Cold War foes remained bumpy despite the US shift on missile defence.
"The statements that are constantly being voiced raise more questions than answers," Lavrov said, referring to the plan unveiled last month by the administration of new US President Barack Obama.
"We would like to receive full clarification," Lavrov added, speaking to reporters during a visit to Moldova for a summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a grouping of ex-Soviet countries.
The Obama administration said last month it was scrapping an older plan to deploy anti-missile facilities in eastern Europe, which had been strongly backed by former US president George W. Bush.
Russia, which fiercely opposed the Bush missile shield, welcomed the Obama administration's move but said it needed to study the details.
Under the new plan, Washington would replace the land-based facilities in Poland and the Czech Republic with a sea-based system designed to protect against short- and medium-range missiles from Iran.
Lavrov said Moscow and Washington were now holding talks so Russia could "understand the configuration" of the new system, but he added that reports of some US proposals were raising eyebrows in Moscow.
He said a report that the United States might include Ukraine in its missile defence plans was "rather unexpected."
US publication Defense News reported Thursday that Washington might consider Ukraine as part of its new anti-missile programme and had added the ex-Soviet country "to the list of possible early warning sites."
Defense News cited the source of the report as Alexander Vershbow, US assistant secretary of defence for international security affairs.
"A statement by Alexander Vershbow was rather unexpected," Lavrov said when asked to comment.
"He is a person who's prone to extravagancies," Lavrov added, referring to Vershbow, who is also a former US ambassador to Russia.
Russia has chilly relations with the pro-Western government in Ukraine, which has sought to bring the country into NATO.
Moscow is deeply suspicious of any US military cooperation with former Soviet republics such as Ukraine or Georgia.
Lavrov said he would discuss a range of issues with Clinton during her visit to Russia October 12-14, including Iran and Afghanistan, where US forces are struggling to put down a Taliban insurgency.
"We are not indifferent to what is happening now in Afghanistan," Lavrov said.
Clinton would most likely meet with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev while in Moscow, Lavrov said.
Separately, Medvedev said in an interview broadcast Friday that there were "not bad" chances for Moscow and Washington to reach a deal on a new nuclear disarmament treaty by the end of the year.
"We have given our negotiators the task of finishing a deal in time. I think the chances are really not bad," Medvedev said in a interview with Russia's Channel One state television network.
"But it will be necessary to show wisdom on both sides, a desire to listen to one another and an understanding of certain contemporary realities," Medvedev added, without elaborating.
Ties between Moscow and Washington have been badly strained in recent years amid disputes over missile defence and last year's Russia-Georgia war, but they have warmed somewhat since Obama's inauguration in January.
earlier related report
US seeks to reassure Russia on missile shield plan
The United States on Friday sought to reassure Russia that Washington had no plans to deploy radars or weaponry in Ukraine as part of its new missile defense plan.
The Defense Department was forced to clarify its plans after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov voiced concern over the new missile shield and said a report that Ukraine might be part of the system was "rather unexpected."
US Assistant Secretary of Defense Alexander Vershbow had told reporters on Thursday that Ukraine and other countries have expressed an interest in hosting a radar site for the shield.
But the Pentagon said: "He (Vershbow) did not make any reference to the stationing of US radars or any other missile defense systems on the territory of Ukraine, and no such proposal has been made to the government of Ukraine."
The United States remained interested in earlier proposals dating back several years that would involve sharing data from Russian early-warning radars in Armavir and in Azerbajian, it said.
President Barack Obama last month said Washington was scrapping an older plan to deploy anti-missile weaponry and radar in Poland and the Czech Republic, a system strongly backed by former US president George W. Bush.
Russia, which fiercely opposed the Bush missile shield, initially welcomed the Obama administration's move but said it needed to study the details.
The new US plan "raises more questions than answers," Lavrov said on Friday during a visit to Moldova for a summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a grouping of ex-Soviet countries.
Lavrov's comments came ahead of a trip to Russia next week by his US counterpart Hillary Clinton, signalling ties between the two former Cold War foes remained bumpy despite the US shift on missile defense.
Under the new plan, Washington would replace the land-based sites in Poland and the Czech Republic with a network of sensors and sea-based interceptors designed to protect Europe against short- and medium-range missiles from Iran. The system would eventually add land-based interceptors in about 2015.
In his remarks Thursday, Vershbow said Russian officials initially responded with "euphoria" to Obama's missile shield decision but have since taken a more tempered view.
He said he was hopeful Russia would adopt a more cooperative attitude on the system.
"My sense is the Russians are taking a more objective look and they may be less inclined to throw up political conditions or obstacles," he said.

Russia launches new Mideast arms push

2009-10-05T21:58:00.001-07:00

Rosoboronexport officials say regional states have shown interest in Russian arms, including the twin-engined Sukhoi Su-35 fighter. It's equipped with weapons systems capable of engaging several air targets simultaneously.

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Russia's state arms exporter is launching a big drive at the Tripoli air show to sell combat jets, missiles and air-defense systems to Middle Eastern states, including the state-of-the-art S-400 Triumf surface-to-air missile that Iran and Syria desperately want to acquire. But the Russians are likely to find considerable competition at the 4th Arab-African Aviation Exhibition and Conference, known as LAVEX-2009, in the Libyan capital that opened Monday.
The four-day arms fair is likely to attract major international defense companies that are falling over themselves to upgrade Libya's long-neglected military as well as supply the Middle East, the largest arms market in the developing world.
But the Russian arms exporter, Rosoboronexport, will also find keen interest in its wares by the Libyan government.
The Libyan leader, Col. Moammar Gadhafi, is miffed that he has not had the access to U.S. arms companies he had expected after he abandoned his clandestine nuclear arms program in 2003 in a high-profile gesture of reconciliation with the international community following decades of isolation.
U.N. trade sanctions that blocked U.S. and Western companies from dealing with Libya were not lifted until 2004, and Washington did not restore full diplomatic relations with Tripoli -- and remove it from its terrorism blacklist -- until 2006.
In the meantime, Gadhafi has turned to Russia and France for his arms requirements.
Gadhafi, who last month marked his 40th year in power, also angered the United States by securing the Aug. 20 release from a Scottish prison of a former intelligence agent convicted for the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jumbo jet over Scotland that killed 270 people.
The Libyan leader was harshly criticized for giving the former agent, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, a rapturous hero's welcome when he arrived back in Tripoli aboard a presidential jet.
For Gadhafi, Megrahi's release on compassionate grounds -- he has terminal cancer -- gave him a powerful platform to demonstrate his ability to defy the West and win domestic and regional plaudits.
So the Russians may find considerable interest in their weapons systems, at a time when Moscow is driving to boost its ailing defense industry and to regain the influence it had in the Middle East and North Africa during the Cold War.
Algeria, Syria, Yemen and Sudan were key defense clients until the collapse of communism in 1991. Iran, once a U.S. ally, is now an important purchaser of Russians arms, and Arab states, even U.S.-oriented Saudi Arabia, are showing interest in Russians weapons systems.
The reason behind the interest being shown by the Saudis, who have reputedly offered Moscow to buy arms worth $2 billion, is primarily political rather than military.
Riyadh wants to use that inducement to persuade Russian not to sell Iran advanced air-defense systems that would protect its controversial nuclear sites.
The Russians say they are confident that these deals will go through, but if the United States and Iran can find a diplomatic solution to the nuclear issue, Riyadh may not be so keen to go ahead with such arms deals.
Still, Moscow has delivered arms worth $2.5 billion to the United Arab Emirates and $1 billion to Kuwait in recent years.
Rosoboronexport officials say regional states have shown interest in Russian arms, including the twin-engined Sukhoi Su-35 fighter. It's equipped with weapons systems capable of engaging several air targets simultaneously.
It also carries the new Irbis-E radar, which allows the pilot to detect and track up to 30 air targets while engaging eight of them at one time with its 30mm cannon and eight tons of missiles.
Moscow hopes to export at least 160 Su-35s to Algeria and other countries. Such exports are vital for keeping Russian production lines going to supply Russia's military forces.
But all eyes are likely to be on the S-400 Triumf -- NATO designation SA-21 Growler -- which can intercept and destroy at a range of up to 250 miles and engage six targets at once.
Iran and Syria want advanced air-defense systems to protect their strategic installations against possible U.S. or Israeli attacks, largely aimed at destroying Iran's nuclear facilities.
But U.S. and Israeli pressure on Moscow has so far blocked the sale of the S-300 system, forerunner of the S-400, which would make any airstrikes far more costly than they would be at this time.

The talks about the Iranian nuclear program, which start in Geneva today (October 1)

2009-10-01T16:32:00.000-07:00

The talks about the Iranian nuclear program, which start in Geneva today (October 1) are not likely to end successfully. The US administration already works on the package of single-handed sanctions to suit any fancy. Russia sets out concerns about Iran’s recent missile tests. China offers everyone to calm down. Experts continue to insist that Teheran will find a way to escape any sanctions, which makes a preventive blow on the nation’s nuclear objects inevitable.

Iran has not been able to prove it to the international community that its nuclear program is solely peaceful. Quite on the contrary, Teheran has been persistently intensifying uranium enrichment activities and demonstrating the power of its arms, which pose the biggest danger to Israel, first and foremost.

It would be perfect if Iran unveiled the entire information of its nuclear developments and okayed the inspection of nuclear objects. That does not seem to be likely, though.

As for the reaction of the international community, China urged world leaders not to aggravate the situation with Iran. China develops commercial ties with Iran and views the state as a key ally in the region. Beijing did not change its stance on Iran after the latter announced the opening of an additional uranium enrichment plant.

Unlike China, Russia is ready to support possible sanctions against Iran. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the missile launches, which Iran conducted recently, were banned by international treaties.

The USA does not expect any positive changes in the development of the situation with Iran. White House spokespeople said that the US administration was already working on the plans to toughen sanctions against the Mideastern nation.

New measures can already be taken this year. Most likely, they will affect the energy industry, including the embargo on the deliveries of petroleum products, the sphere of finance, insurance and telecommunications. Washington also intends to cut the import of sanctioned goods to Iran via third world countries.

"Iran has a choice: to comply with its international obligations and that would mean not only offering inspections (of its nuclear facilities) but ending its activities absent the kind of monitoring and supervision that would guarantee that what they are doing is solely for peaceful purposes. The alternative track is greater isolation and international pressure,” Hillary Clinton said.

Many experts say that the new sanctions are inevitable. Some say, though, that they can make the Iranians unite in their support of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Yevgeny Satanovsky, the president of the Institute for the Middle East, said that Iran had no chances to avoid international sanctions. However, the expert doubts that the sanctions will be effective.

“As a matter of fact, international sanctions are not efficient at all. They were effective only with the case of the South African Republic when the political will of its administration regarding the intention to refuse from the military nuclear program coincided with the political will of the countries that introduced the sanctions.

“The Iranian administration does not care. It goes without saying that Iran will be building an A-bomb. It goes without saying that it will finally build it sooner or later. Destroying the nuclear objects in Iran is the only option that one can pursue at this point,” the expert said.

-I ran test-fired short-range missiles

2009-09-27T07:33:00.000-07:00

I ran test-fired short-range missiles as its elite Revolutionary Guards began missile defense drills on Sunday aimed at bolstering the Islamic Republic's defense capabilities, official media reported.
The missile defense drills, duIbbed the Great Prophet IV, are being held amid growing tension with the West over Iran's controversial nuclear program, after the Islamic Republic revealed last week that it was building a second uranium enrichment plant.
The English-language Press-TV reported that during the first day of the exercises the ground-to-ground Fateh-110 missile and the Tondar 69 naval missile were test-fired.
Revolutionary Guards Air Force chief Hossein Salami also told reporters that Iran had for the first time tested a multiple missile launcher during the drills.
The revelation by Iran that it was building a new underground uranium enrichment facility prompted condemnation from Western powers, which have long suspected Iran of pursuing a covert atomic weapons program. Iran says that its nuclear program is aimed at generating peaceful civilian energy.
Iran's nuclear chief said on Saturday that Tehran would allow the UN's nuclear watchdog to inspect the newly revealed plant. Ali Akbar Salehi told Iranian television the date for the visit had yet to be agreed on.
However, both the U.S. and Britain have refused to rule out military action against Iran over its nuclear program.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband told the BBC earlier on Saturday that while London was "100% committed" to diplomacy, he could not rule out military action. His words came after U.S. President Barack Obama had said "We do not rule out any options when it comes to U.S. security interests."
Miliband also refused to speculate on whether Israel would launch an attack on the Islamic Republic, adding however that "no sane person" would want a military conflict with Iran.

India refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

2009-09-25T09:43:00.000-07:00

India refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the nation’s Minister of State for External Affairs, Shashi Tharoor said. The statement followed the UN Security Council’s approval of the resolution urging all countries to sign the treaty and refuse from their nuclear arms.

The NPT signed in 1970 restricted the number of nuclear superpowers to five countries only – the USA, the USSR, Great Britain, France and China. These were the countries that already had the nuclear weapons at the time when the document was signed.

India was not listed among those states: the nation conducted a first nuclear test in 1974. One hundred and seventy countries of the world agreed to extend the treaty indefinitely without additional conditions in 1995. However, Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea did not sign the document.

The above-mentioned countries refused to sign it because of their disagreement with the fact that only five large countries of the world used the NPT to monopolize the right for possessing nuclear arms.

Shashi Tharoor has said that India will not adhere to any treaty such as the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and will not sign it as long as it is discriminatory. Another senior Indian official said that India, a nuclear power, would not sign the treaty about the status of a non-nuclear state.

"India cannot accept externally-prescribed norms or standards on matters within the jurisdiction of its Parliament or which are not consistent with its constitutional provisions and procedures, or are contrary to its national interests or infringe on its sovereignty," said the letter from Hardeep Singh Puri, India's permanent representative to the U.N.

India is ready for nuclear disarmament only if other countries do it too.

“The reason why India considers the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty discriminatory lies on the surface. If India signs it, it will lose its nuclear potential, and the nation does not want to do it. This may lead to considerable losses in political, military and ideological aspects,” Vladimir Khrustalev, an expert on nuclear technologies told Pravda.Ru.

“The world cannot do without India now for a number of reasons. The Indian administration can say what it wants having no fears of possible consequences. This may lead to sanctions and isolation for North Korea, but that’s not the case with India. The USA attempted to introduce sanctions against India in 1998 after a series of nuclear tests conducted in the country. However, US officials later acknowledged that it was a mistake. Washington finally lifted all restrictions against India in 2008. The sanctions were not effective at all. India was developed enough not to notice them. Furthermore, the sanctions caused damage to the USA itself,” the expert said.

It is worthy of note that India can not refuse from its nuclear weapons due to political reasons. The nation has very complicated relations with its neighbors – China and Pakistan, which possess nuclear arsenals too

CBS that Russia’s paranoid views

2009-09-21T18:15:00.000-07:00

US President Barack Obama stated in his recent interview with CBS that Russia’s paranoid views about the missile defense system in Europe had not shown influence on his decision to shelve the plans of the previous US administration to deploy missile defense system elements in Poland and the Czech Republic.

"Russia had always been paranoid about this, but George Bush was right. This wasn't a threat to them," Obama said. "And this program will not be a threat to them,” The Associated Press quoted Obama as saying.

"My task here was not to negotiate with the Russians," Obama told CBS' "Face the Nation" in an interview for broadcast Sunday. "The Russians don't make determinations about what our defense posture is."

"If the byproduct of it is that the Russians feel a little less paranoid and are now willing to work more effectively with us to deal with threats like ballistic missiles from Iran or nuclear development in Iran, you know, then that's a bonus,” Obama said.

Obama announced the plans to scrap the deployment of ten interceptor missiles and a radar station in Poland and the Czech Republic on September 17. In its place will be a different missile-defense plan relying on a network of sensors and interceptor missiles based at sea, on land and in the air. Obama says that adapts to the most pressing threat from Iran to U.S. troops and allies in Europe, potential attacks by short- and medium-range missiles, The AP reports.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Friday (September 18) that Obama’s decision was obviously a good sign for Russia.

“I do hope that this right and brave action will be followed by others,” Putin said. He added that Moscow was hoping the US administration would take further steps to retrieve cooperation with Russia to the fullest and cancel all restrictions at this point.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates quickly wrote an article about the new plans connected with the missile defense system. His article said that the previous system would not have been operational until at least 2017 at the earliest and insisted the shift provided "greater flexibility to adapt as new threats develop and old ones recede."

"We are strengthening - not scrapping - missile defense in Europe," he wrote in an opinion column in the New York Times.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also defended the decision as "a stronger and smarter approach" in a opinion piece in the Financial Times.

"We are not 'shelving' missile defense. We are enhancing our capacity to protect our interests and our allies," Clinton wrote.

"We are not walking away from our allies but are deploying a system that enhances allied security, advances our cooperation with NATO, and actually places more resources in more countries," AFP

Russia’s Dmitry Medvedev saw new opportunities for cooperation between the USA and Russia after the recent changes. He said in an interview with CNN that missile defense must be created as a result of an international, but not a single-state effort.

Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer confirmed on Thursday that Washington has decided to scrap its missile defense plans for the Czech Republic and Poland,

2009-09-17T06:49:00.000-07:00

- Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer confirmed on Thursday that Washington has decided to scrap its missile defense plans for the Czech Republic and Poland, which have been fiercely opposed by Russia.

"Barack Obama telephoned me at 00:21 local time. Poland has also been informed of the decision," Fischer told a news briefing in Prague.

The premier said a U.S. delegation is due to arrive in Prague within hours to discuss details of the decision.

A U.S. delegation led by Ellen Tauscher, under secretary of state for arms control and international security, finished talks in Warsaw earlier on Thursday. No official comments have followed.

Media in the U.S., Poland and the Czech Republic have cited high-ranking sources as saying the Obama administration will officially soon announce its decision to abandon plans for a radar in the Czech Republic and a missile base in Poland.

The Wall Street Journal cited sources close to the issue as saying the U.S. decision to scrap the plans are based on an assessment that Iran's long-range missile program has not progressed as rapidly as previously estimated, reducing the threat to the U.S. and Europe's major cities.

The World Health Organization has confirmed 3,205 deaths globally from swine flu

2009-09-15T15:16:00.000-07:00

- Autopsies on people who have died from the new pandemic H1N1 flu show this virus is different from seasonal influenza, even if it has not yet caused more deaths, experts told a meeting on Tuesday.

Americans who died from swine flu had infections deep in their lungs, Dr. Sherif Zaki of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told a meeting of flu experts, including damage to the alveoli -- the structures in the lung that deliver oxygen to the blood.

This in turn caused what is known as acute respiratory distress syndrome -- an often fatal development that leaves patients gasping for breath.

The World Health Organization has confirmed 3,205 deaths globally from swine flu but experts agree all estimates of the extent of the pandemic are grossly understated because so few patients are ever actually tested.

Seasonal flu kills, too -- about 250,000 to 500,000 cases a year globally, according to the WHO. But not in the same way as swine flu, which unlike seasonal flu frequently causes severe disease in young adults and children.

"It is very rarely you see what we call diffuse alveolar damage in fatal seasonal influenza," Zaki told a meeting sponsored by the U.S. Institute of Medicine, which advises government on health matters.

Seasonal flu causes bronchitis and other upper respiratory disease. But Zaki, the chief infectious disease pathologist at CDC, said the new virus had burrowed into the lungs of the 90 or so people he examined after they died, and they had huge amounts of the virus in their blood.

"This is almost exactly what we see with avian flu," Zaki said. "This looks like avian flu on steroids."

EXPERIMENTAL DRUGS

Dr. Yoshi Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin said tests in monkeys showed the virus lives and replicates 1,000-fold better in the lungs than does seasonal flu.

He said the No. 1 drug of choice against H1N1 -- Roche AG's and Gilead Sciences Inc's Tamiflu -- lowered the so-called viral load of virus in the lungs just enough to help the body fight back.

Experimental flu drugs lower it even more, notably Daiichi Sankyo Co Ltd's CS 8958 and another drug called T-705 or favipiravir, made by Fujifilm Holdings Corp unit Toyama Chemical Co, Kawaoka said.

Zaki said 90 percent of the fatalities he looked at had some condition that would predispose them to serious disease. They had a median age of 38 and one victim was a two-month-old infant who died within a day of getting sick.

Nearly half -- 46 percent -- were obese, many had fatty liver disease, 27 percent had heart disease and 22 percent had asthma, he said.

Dr. Guillermo Ruiz-Palacios of Mexico's National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition said many Mexican patients with severe disease were also obese. In addition, patients came in late for treatment and many were infected with a second common virus, called parainfluenza

Israel eyes big arms sales in Africa

2009-09-15T07:48:00.000-07:00

"The 'ugly Israeli' in the guise of the arms dealer (mostly former intelligence and military officials), who promotes weapons sales on behalf of Israeli military industries, with the backing of the defense establishment, has given Israel a bad name worldwide. "Israelis have been involved in civil wars (in Angola, Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast) and in aiding dictatorial regimes such as in Equatorial Guinea and the two Congo republics."

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's recent five-country tour of Africa was more about building up intelligence links and selling arms than diplomacy, according to one Israeli intelligence specialist.

Lieberman didn't sign any arms deals during his swing through Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana and Uganda. But Israeli officials estimate there are African arms contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars waiting to be grabbed by Israel's export-hungry defense firms.

Yossi Melman, who writes extensively on Israel's intelligence establishment, questioned whether Israel should be engaging in such activities instead of sending in agricultural advisers and medical and educational experts to such economically distressed countries.

He noted that the publicly announced objective of the tour was "Israel's willingness to assist counties Â… to find solutions to their problems: hunger, insufficient clean water, epidemics."

But he wrote in the liberal daily Haaretz that the main but "less publicized" aspect of the tour was boosting "defense exports," such as the arms deals worth $500 million that Israel has signed with Nigeria in recent years.

Melman observed that an "even more secretive" goal was "the hope of developing intelligence ties and cooperation in the effort against international jihadist elements, and especially countering the activities of Iran in some of these African countries" where Israel has been engaged in some murky dealings over the years.

Lieberman's entourage included representatives of many key Israeli defense firms, both state-owned and private enterprises. These included Israel Military Industries, Israel Aerospace Industries, Soltam, Silver Shadow Advanced Security Systems, Israel Shipyards and Elbit Systems.

There was also a delegation from the Defense Ministry's foreign assistance and military sales department, known as Sibat.

And finally there was a team from Israel's intelligence community, including a senior official from the Mossad, the foreign intelligence service.

Israeli intelligence has operated in Africa for decades, and military teams have been active in training Africa armies, often clandestinely, with weapons sold by the Jewish state.

Melman observed: "Secret funding from the United States Central Intelligence Agency was channeled by American trade unions to (Israel's) Histadrut labor federation Â…to finance various activities.

"Among other things, the money was used to post an impressive array of Mossad agents in the African states."

These activities, Melman noted, "gave Mossad agents and Israeli Defense Forces officers an excuse to be involved in the internal affairs of African regimes."

Indeed, Israelis were reportedly involved in military coups in Uganda and Zanzibar, or as Melman drily observed "at least had prior knowledge of them."

The African countries where the Israeli agents operated included those of geostrategic interest to Israel on the periphery of the Arab world, such as Ethiopia, Kenya and Sudan.

These remain of some importance to Israel today because of their proximity to Egypt, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. Ethiopia and Sudan control the Red Sea shipping lanes to Eilat, Israel's only southern port in the Gulf of Aqaba.

In July and August, amid growing tensions with Iran, Israel deployed one of three German-built Dolphin-class submarines and two corvettes into the Red Sea in a clear warning to Tehran.

In January and February, Israeli warplanes were reported to have destroyed at least two convoys in the Sudanese desert that were carrying Iranian arms to Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The Israelis have long had close intelligence links with Ethiopia, a Christian-dominated Red Sea state ringed by Muslim countries. Addis Ababa is currently propping up the Western-backed transitional government in neighboring Somalia, where al-Qaida is reputed to be operating.

Melman lamented: "It is a sad truth that Â… almost all Israeli activity on the African continent is related to weapons exports.

"The 'ugly Israeli' in the guise of the arms dealer (mostly former intelligence and military officials), who promotes weapons sales on behalf of Israeli military industries, with the backing of the defense establishment, has given Israel a bad name worldwide.

"Israelis have been involved in civil wars (in Angola, Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast) and in aiding dictatorial regimes such as in Equatorial Guinea and the two Congo republics."

South America meeting

2009-09-14T19:51:00.000-07:00

A US deal to use Colombian bases is to be scrutinized at a regional meeting on Tuesday of South America's defense and foreign ministers in Ecuador amid fears the region risks armed instability.

The talks extend concerns over the US-Colombia plan already expressed at a Union of South American Nations (Unasur) summit las month, while including other defense pacts at Bogota's insistence.

Venezuela's purchases of more than four billion dollars' worth of Russian military hardware, and Brazil's recent 12-billion-dollar purchase of French submarines and helicopters and likely acquisition of French fighter jets were also open to discussion, officials said.

"All accords, not only that of the United States and Colombia, enter in the process of establishing mutual trust," said Ecuadorian Defense Minister Javier Ponce, whose country currently chairs Unasur.

Several nations, notably Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil and Argentina, have objected to the US plan to use seven Colombian bases, saying the US military deployment would be suspiciously large for the stated purpose of fighting Colombian drug traffickers and rebels.

But Ponce said Tuesday's meeting "is not about blocking this accord, but rather about getting information" to allay fears the US presence could threaten neighboring countries.

Venezuela's ambassador to Colombia, Gustavo Marquez, said: "Everybody has to put everything on the table. Someone has a deal with Russia? OK, put it on the table. Someone has one with the US? Put it on the table."

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez have called on US President Barack Obama to attend a Unasur summit to explain the reasons for using the bases in Colombia.

So far Obama has given no indication of accepting the request but he, Lula and Argentine President Cristina Kirchner will all be at a G20 summit in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at the end of next week.

Several South American states have suggested they should handle anti-narcotics operations themselves, without any involvement from the United States, the biggest market for the region's cocaine.

Ecuador said it would present a text outlining South America's self-sufficiency in security matters and recommending information-sharing to alleviate distrust.

Bolivia's President Evo Morales, meanwhile, used a trip on Monday to Spain to again lash out at the plan for bases in Colombia, saying: "In Latin America, where there is a US military base there are military coups."

He added however that "Bolivia is not going to break off relations with anyone, not the United States" over the issue.

US fears Latin American arms race

2009-09-14T19:44:00.000-07:00

Venezuela is buying 92 Soviet-era T-72 main battle tanks, amongst other military hardware.

The United States voiced alarm Monday that Venezuela's weapons purchases may be fueling a Latin American arms race after a deal between Caracas and Moscow to buy tanks and anti-aircraft rockets.

In Caracas, President Hugo Chavez said Sunday that Venezuela had obtained a 2.2-billion-dollar credit from Russia for the purchases, a move an analyst says suggests the leader's real fear of conflict over Venezuela's huge oil and gas resources.

"We have concerns in general about Venezuela's stated desire to increase its arms build-up, which we think poses a serious challenge to stability in the Western Hemisphere," US State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters.

"What they are looking to purchase and what they are purchasing outpaces all other countries in South America," he said.

Chavez said Venezuela is buying 92 Soviet-era T-72 main battle tanks, 300-millimeter Smerch multiple launch rocket systems, and vehicle-mounted Russian Antey 2500 surface-to-air missile systems targeting incoming missiles.

Kelly was responding to questions over reports that Venezuela's anti-US president also wanted Russia's help to pursue a peaceful nuclear program and about possible fears Caracas would import nuclear or other technology from Iran.

"We urge Venezuela to be transparent in its purchases, and very clear about the purposes of these purchases," Kelly said at a daily press briefing.

"And we're also very concerned that they put in place very clear procedures and safeguards that these arms are not diverted to any irregular or illegal organizations," he added.

Chavez has long expressed a desire to improve his nation's military with Moscow's help, and the substantial deal comes amid rising tensions between Caracas and Bogota over Colombia's decision to allow the United States access to several military bases on its territory.

The firebrand leftist has repeatedly criticized the United States, but has insisted that the latest purchase was not directed against any other country.

Chavez stressed that his country had the "right to take the minimum necessary steps" to protect its national security and massive oil and gas reserves as "the empire has set its sites on them."

Latin America's loudest US critic often describes the United States as an empire.

The growing presence of Chinese, Russian and Spanish firms in the vast Orinoco oil belt, fields believed to be among the largest in the world, provide "a new geopolitical dimension as we establish the parameters of our military and our sovereignty," Chavez said.

It will be a "big purchase that raises concerns from both a qualitative and quantitative point of view. The president has said he feels threatened, which means there is a hypothesis of conflict," analyst Elsa Cardozo said.

The most worrying thing is that Russian-Venezuelan arms deals are taking place against a regional backdrop in which "the tendency to work cooperatively and transparently on defense matters has been abandoned," Cardozo told AFP in Caracas.

In recent years Venezuela has signed over four billion dollars worth of arms contracts with Russia, and last November its navy held joint exercises with Russian warships in the Caribbean, traditionally seen as a US domain.

Venezuela gets $2.2B in credit for Russian arms

2009-09-13T17:38:00.000-07:00

CARACAS, Venezuela — Russia has opened a $2.2 billion line of credit for Venezuela to purchase weapons including armored vehicles and surface-to-air missiles, President Hugo Chavez said Sunday.

Venezuela is buying more arms because it feels threatened by Colombia's decision to give U.S. troops greater access to its military bases, Chavez said.

Repeating a frequent theme of his presidency, the socialist leader said the United States would like to invade Venezuela and seize the country's oil fields. He said the bases in Colombia could help the U.S. stage such an attack.

The arms deal was announced last week during Chavez's visit to Moscow, and he gave details Sunday. Chavez said the deal calls for Venezuela to buy 92 Russian-made T-72 tanks as well as Smerch anti-aircraft missile launching systems. He didn't say how many missile launchers Venezuela was buying.

"The Russian government approved financing for $2.2 billion. For what? For weapons, and we must thank them," Chavez said. "We've decided to install a powerful anti-air defense system."

Last week, Chavez said the deal also included the purchase of ground-to-ground missiles with a range of up to 186 miles (300 kilometers). He said they were needed to improve Venezuela's defenses.

Venezuela and Colombia have been feuding for months over the negotiations between Bogota and Washington that would allow the U.S. military to increase its presence at seven Colombian bases under a 10-year lease agreement. Colombian and U.S. officials say the agreement is necessary to more effectively help Colombia fight drug traffickers and leftist rebels.

Venezuela has already bought more than $4 billion worth of Russian arms since 2005, including 24 Sukhoi fighter jets, dozens of attack helicopters and 100,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles.

Chavez said nobody should be alarmed by Venezuela's newest arms purchases. Venezuela "doesn't plan to invade anybody," he said.

September 11, 2009 marks eight years since the day of tremendous terrorist attacks

2009-09-11T08:08:00.000-07:00

September 11, 2009 marks eight years since the day of tremendous terrorist attacks in the United States. The tragic events still raise many questions. Why did the twin towers collapse if they were built to stand a much stronger blow? How did some of the “suicide bombers” remain alive afterwards? Where is the clear footage of the plane crashing on the Pentagon?

2,973 people were killed in the series of terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on September 11, 2001. Two twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City tumbled down as a result of the attacks. A part of the Pentagon building was demolished in Washington.

The WTC used to be a symbol of power of the United States during the end of the 20th century. The towers were built in the beginning of the 1960s to show something grand to Americans and make them feel proud of their nation.

The towers were built instead of 164 buildings that were standing on the location of the would-be giants. The total weight of steel, which was used in the construction of the towers, exceeded 200,000 tons. Electric cables used for the buildings had the length of 3,000 miles, which is a half of the distance between New York and London. As a result, two 110-storeyed 450-meter high monsters changed NY’s skyline for good, as everyone believed.

The structure of the buildings was simple and wise: the buildings were designed to stand powerful earthquakes.

The buildings were opened on April 4, 1973. They could live for ages, but they collapsed in 28 years. The questions, which many people have in this connection, still have no answers.

How could huge steel columns smelt because of the kerosene, the burning point of which is four times as low as the smelting point of steel? About a dozen of cargo planes loaded with white phosphorous should have slammed into each of the two towers to make them collapse like a house of cards. Or the buildings should have been previously mined.

There are plenty of versions to explain what really happened in the USA on September 11, 2001. Newsweek wrote on September 16, 2001 that five of 19 hijackers had been trained at US army bases. Three terrorists had driver licenses and technical passports of the vehicles registered at the US naval base in Pensacola.

The mysterious details of the terrorist acts set off speculation about the possible participation of US top officials in the attacks, who used them to reach their political goals.

If it is true it only means that US strategists had not thought of anything new. Roman Emperor Nero set Rome on fire to blame Christians for that. Hitler set Reichstag ablaze to lay the blame for it on his adversaries.

911 PART2

2009-09-11T08:01:00.000-07:00

The USA resorted to a number of political provocations in its history before. In 1898, the Americans imitated a Spanish attack on the United States in Havana to deprive Spain of its control over Cuba. In 1911, Hurst, a media mogul and newspaper tycoon, who could lose his land in Mexico, launched a propaganda campaign to make the USA declare war on Mexico. Many of his newspapers wrote that hundreds of thousands of Mexican soldiers were approaching the US borders.
The US administration was informed about Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, but did not take any measures to prevent it. The people were strongly against the USA’s participation in WWII, whereas the government was eager to play the game of war to enjoy the redivision of the world afterwards. All aircraft-carriers had left Pearl Harbor shortly before the attack, but left outdated battleships there.

Another provocation was made a year later with a view to have Canada involved in the war. It was said that a Japanese submarine supposedly attacked a lighthouse near Vancouver on June 20, 1942. There is every reason to believe that Japan would not have taken such a great risk because of such an insignificant object. It was later said that the type of shells that were used to attack the lighthouse could not be fired from Japanese submarines.

US special services made a global presentation of the complete list of terrorists and their photos several hours after the 9/11 attacks. However, five “deceased” terrorists suddenly emerged in Saudi Arabia. They did not leave the country nor did they hijack the passenger jetliners. Does it mean that the list had been prepared before the attacks?

What about the crash of the Boeing in Pennsylvania? The crater on the site of the plane crash was filled with tiny fragments only. Even if the plane was carrying a cargo of hexogen, the hull would not have been turned into dust.

And here comes the most surprising fact. Condoleezza Rice, who was taking the post of the National Security Advisor at that time, was on the phone with San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown eight years before the tragedy. Ms. Rice recommended the mayor not to fly to New York on September 11th.

Britain’s The Times wrote after the tragedy that George W. Bush let a private plane from Saudi Arabia cross the US territory to pick up about a dozen of Osama bin Laden’s relatives and take them out of the country.

None of Bin Laden’s relatives were summoned to appear at the FBI. There was not even an attempt made to find out if they had any information.

Will the mysteries of 9/11 ever be unraveled?

Russia denies Arctic Sea carried missiles to Iran

2009-09-09T08:56:00.000-07:00

Russia on Tuesday strongly denied that a cargo ship whose supposed seizure by pirates sparked an international mystery was secretly carrying sophisticated anti-aircraft missiles bound for Iran.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed reports that the Arctic Sea was carrying a batch of the Russian-made S-300 missiles when it was hijacked.

"Regarding the S-300s on board the Arctic Sea, this is absolutely untrue," Lavrov told reporters when asked about the report.

Separately, Russian investigators announced they had inspected the ship and found only its official cargo of timber.

"The cargo aboard the ship, wood and sawn timber, is being thoroughly inspected by investigators, as well as the ship itself," a spokesman for the investigative committee of Russian prosecutors told AFP.

"Nothing besides the stated cargo has yet been found by investigators and forensic experts," he said, adding the ship was still at sea and the investigation would continue several more days.

The Arctic Sea, a Maltese-flagged vessel with a Russian crew, was hijacked near Sweden in late July before being recovered by the Russian navy in the Atlantic Ocean several weeks later.

The hijacking in a busy European shipping lane, the huge international effort to recover the ship, and the detention of its crewmen after they returned to Russia have all fuelled speculation about a secret cargo.

Officially the ship was carrying a load of timber worth 1.7 million dollars (1.16 million euros) from Finland to Algeria, but speculation has raged that it was carrying weapons or even nuclear materials.

The ship is due to arrive within days at Russia's Black Sea port of Novorossiisk.

Lavrov said representatives of Malta, the flag government of the Arctic Sea, would be invited to take part in the investigation.

"Everything will be done transparently. I hope everyone will be convinced that the rumours you are referring to are absolutely groundless," Lavrov said in response to a reporter's question.

Meanwhile a Kremlin spokeswoman, Natalya Timakova, told reporters that any theories about what the Arctic Sea was carrying before the investigation was complete were "speculation."

This weekend the Sunday Times of London, citing Russian and Israeli sources, reported that Israel's Mossad intelligence service had learned the ship was carrying S-300s to Iran and worked with Moscow to stop the shipment.

According to the Sunday Times report, Israel learned that the ship had been loaded with weapons in Russia's Baltic Sea port of Kaliningrad by former military officers with links to criminal groups.

The newspaper said that Mossad, acting with the Moscow government's backing, may have set up the hijacking in a bid to stop the shipment without causing Russia embarrassment.

Independent Russian defence analyst Pavel Felgenhauer dismissed the report, noting that S-300 batteries were large, heavy and complex systems that would be impossible to conceal in a cargo hold.

"Hypothetically, such a cargo ship could transport grenade launchers for Hezbollah or Hamas, Igla portable anti-aircraft missiles, something more compact than the S-300," Felgenhauer told AFP.

"At least this would not violate the laws of physics," added Felgenhauer, the defence columnist for Novaya Gazeta newspaper.

Time magazine has also quoted experts suggesting the vessel was carrying missiles destined for the Middle East.

Israeli President Shimon Peres visited Russia and held talks with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev on August 18, the day after Russia announced it had recaptured the Arctic Sea from pirates.

Following the talks, Peres said he had secured a promise from Medvedev that Russia would review its decision to sell S-300s to Iran.

Russia reportedly agreed to sell Iran the missiles several years ago, but Western countries and Israel fiercely opposed the deal as S-300s would greatly enhance Tehran's ability to protect against an air strike.

Eight suspects -- including Russians, Estonians and Latvians -- have been accused of hijacking the Arctic Sea and are now awaiting trial in Moscow on piracy and kidnapping charges.

NKorea says it is in final stage of uranium enrichment

2009-09-08T09:12:00.000-07:00

Experts see no construction at NKorea nuclear site
Experts poring over a satellite image of North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear reactor said Friday there is no evidence the Stalinist state is trying to rebuild the facility as threatened. The Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) said the black and white photo they have published show key parts of the reactor still in disrepair. "Based on an analysis of imagery, there do not appear to be any reconstruction efforts at the reactor site," the ISIS said. North Korea mothballed the reactor as part of a 2007 deal with the United States, China, Russia, South Korea and Japan, but recently said it would recover plutonium from fuel rods at the site. The image, dated August 10, shows a complex of buildings, including what ISIS said was the site of a destroyed cooling tower, with no signs of reconstruction. In April UN inspectors removed seals and switched off surveillance equipment the facility, as North Korea quit the six-party talks and ceased cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency. The regime announced on Friday that it had reached the final stage of enriching uranium, its second way of making nuclear bombs. It also announced it was building more plutonium-based atomic weapons. Some analysts said its nuclear claims appeared aimed at pressing Washington to open direct talks.
by Staff Writers
Seoul (AFP) Sept 4, 2009
North Korea said Friday it had reached the final stage of enriching uranium, a second way of making nuclear bombs, in a defiant response to tougher United Nations sanctions.
The hardline communist state also announced it was building more plutonium-based atomic weapons.

"Experimental uranium enrichment has successfully been conducted to enter into completion phase," the official Korean Central News Agency quoted its permanent representative to the United Nations as saying.

"Reprocessing of spent fuel rods is at its final phase and extracted plutonium is being weaponised," the representative said in a letter to the UN Security Council president.

The North, which had recently struck a more conciliatory note after months of tension, said it was prepared "for both dialogue and sanctions."

Some analysts said its nuclear claims appeared aimed at pressing Washington to open direct talks.

Pyongyang for years denied US allegations of a secret enriched uranium bomb-making programme, in addition to the admitted plutonium-based operation which fuelled two nuclear tests.

But on June 13, a day after the UN punished Pyongyang's latest test with tighter sanctions, the North vowed to start an enriched uranium programme and to extract more plutonium from spent fuel rods at its Yongbyon reactor.

South Korea's foreign ministry said Friday's announcement was "intolerable" and said it will "deal sternly and consistently with North Korea's threats and provocations."

Experts believe the North has enough plutonium for possibly six to eight bombs. A full-scale enriched uranium programme is seen as a distant prospect, but troubling because it could be hidden from spy satellites.

South Korea's then-defence minister said in June such a programme could be housed in a space as small as 600 square metres (6,500 square feet).

Kim Yeon-Chul, of Seoul's Hankyoreh Peace Research Institute, said it was difficult to assess how far uranium enrichment technology had progressed, although it was not surprising that fuel rods were being processed.

"Keeping open windows both for dialogue and a further nuclear build-up, North Korea is warning the US that its nuclear activities will only move forward unless negotiations get under way," Kim told AFP.

The North's UN representative said he was responding to a letter from the world body's sanctions committee "requesting a clarification."

The United Arab Emirates has told the committee it seized a ship carrying North Korean weapons to Iran.

The North said it would never be bound by Resolution 1874 passed June 12. If some Security Council members continued to put sanctions before dialogue, it would be forced "to take yet stronger self-defensive countermeasures."

Pyongyang had shut down Yongbyon under a six-nation nuclear disarmament deal. After the UN censured its April 5 long-range rocket launch it quit those talks and vowed to restart its bomb-making programme.

The North staged its second nuclear test on May 25.

The North said it had never objected to denuclearising the Korean peninsula but the six-way talks had been used to "violate outrageously" its sovereignty.

"We are open to bilateral engagement as well, but only within the context of the six-party process and as an effort to rejuvenate and restart the six-party process," US special envoy for North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, said in Beijing.

He arrived in Seoul later Friday and will fly on to Tokyo for talks on ways to restart the six-party process.

"Anything that the North is doing in the area of nuclear development is a concern to us," Bosworth said.

Japan's incoming government vowed to maintain a tough stance.

"We will respond with stern sanctions" against Pyongyang's missile and nuclear activities, said Democratic Party of Japan secretary general Katsuya Okada, who is expected to take a key cabinet post.

As the US pressed for tough enforcement of sanctions, the North made a peace overtures.

In August it freed two US journalists and five South Koreans, eased border crossings with the South and sent representatives to talks in Seoul.

But the latest news saw about 150 activists burn portraits of the North's leader Kim Jong-Il in the South Korean capital.

Brazil close to borrowing 6.1 billion euros for choppers, subs

2009-09-06T08:29:00.000-07:00

Brazil close to borrowing 6.1 billion euros for choppers, subs

Russia, India to sign new deal on problem ship: official
Russia and India will in October sign a new agreement over a Soviet aircraft carrier which Moscow is refurbishing for New Delhi in a deal plagued by problems for years, a top Russian official said Thursday. "We hope to solve all the issues by the middle of October by signing an additional agreement," said the head of state holding giant Russian Technologies, Sergei Chemezov, Russian news agencies reported. Further details on the nature of the agreement were not immediately available. Russia, India's longtime weapons supplier, in 2004 announced it would give India the "Admiral Gorshkov" so long as New Delhi paid for the refurbishment. However since then the costs charged by Moscow for the refurbishment have sky-rocketed and delivery dates have been repeatedly delayed, turning the issue into an embarrassment for the two allies. Indian President Pratibha Patil had earlier held talks with her Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev on expanding trade and nuclear cooperation.
by Staff Writers
Brasilia (AFP) Sept 2, 2009
A senate committee has given a green light to a 6.1-billion-euro loan from six European banks for Brazil to build French designed helicopters and submarines to modernize its military.
"The committee gave a unanimous green light Monday but it still must be approved by the full Senate" in coming days, a spokeswoman for the Senate Economic Affairs Committee said.

The loan would come from BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, Santander, Calyon, Credit Industriel et Commercial and Natixis. Brazil would have 15 years to pay back the loan.

Most of the loan, 4.3 billion euros, will go to having French submarines built in Brazil. A shipyard would be built in Sepetiba, Rio de Janeiro state, to build the subs.

Another 1.76 billion euros will be for helicopters built in Brazil by Helibras, about 45 percent of which is held by Eurocopter, a branch of European defense giant EADS.

Eurocopter says it is the biggest helicopter contract ever in South America.

In December, France and Brazil signed an agreement calling for the sale of 50 EC-725 transport helicopters and the construction of four conventional Scorpene attack submarines and a five nuclear powered submarine in cooperation with France.

The agreements are to be formalized during a visit by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Brasilia September 7.

Separately France's Dassault Rafale is in the running to provide Brazil 36 fighter jets. Boeing's F-18, from the United States, and the Saab Gripen from Sweden are also competing for the contract.

earlier related report
Malaysia's first ever submarine arrives to acclaim
Malaysia's first ever submarine was delivered Thursday to colourful fanfare and a royal visitor, in an acquisition that the government said "completes" the country's navy.

The European-made Scorpene submarine is the first of two commissioned from French contractor DCNS and Spain's Navantia for a combined total of 3.4 billion ringgit (961 million dollars).

The second submarine is scheduled for delivery in late 2009.

"With the arrival of the first submarine, our navy is now complete as it has an air component, a sea component and now a submarine component," defence minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told reporters.

The KD Tunku Abdul Rahman, named after the nation's first prime minister, sailed into a grand reception at the navy's deepwater Pulau Indah base in Port Klang, an hour's drive from the capital Kuala Lumpur.

A naval band struck up martial tunes as the jet-black vessel, decorated with bunting and with its captain Zulhelmy Ithnain in the viewing tower, docked at the pier, which was packed with Malaysian and foreign naval dignitaries.

Malaysian King Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin was given a tour of the submarine, which set sail 54 days ago from the French port of Toulon, where the vessel was built.

Naval officials said the submarine would be based in Sabah state, on Borneo island, where it will undergo fine-tuning before it is deployed in search and rescue and military exercises.

The two submarines have long attracted controversy since the deal was signed in 2002.

Malaysia's opposition claims that a 540-million-ringgit commission was paid to a close associate of now-Premier Najib Razak in brokering the deal.

The prime minister, who also attended Thursday's ceremony, has denied there was any corruption in the deal, which was made when he was defence minister

Iran's Sejil missile 'threatens Europe'

2009-08-27T09:24:00.001-07:00

Uzi Rubin, former head of Israel's ballistic missile defense program, says Iran has made a "technological and strategic breakthrough" with its Sejil-2 intermediate-range ballistic missile, which will be able to hit a swathe of European states in three to four years.
That assertion, initially made to Jane's Defense Weekly and reiterated at a U.S. Army-sponsored missile defense conference in Huntsville, Ala., on Aug. 20, intensified concerns that Iran has stepped up its drive to acquire ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

On the face of it, Rubin's comments gave weight to Israeli fears that Iran will soon pose an existential threat to the Jewish state.

Israeli leaders have been pressing the United States to take firmer action to ensure that Iran does not acquire nuclear weapons and have suggested unilateral pre-emptive strikes if something is not done soon to curb Tehran.

Rubin masterminded the development of Israel's Arrow anti-missile system, the top layer of the country's emerging multilayered missile defense shield, from 1991 to 1999.

He said that the two-stage Sejil-2 has an estimated range of 1,560 miles, not 1,250 miles as previously thought, and that the successful testing of a solid-fueled missile on May 20 was a major breakthrough for Iran.

This was because unlike the Shehab-3, Iran's operational ballistic missile already deployed with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Sejil uses solid propellant rather than the less reliable liquid fuel. It is the first Iranian missile to do so, opening the door for more advanced technology.

Rubin did not specifically say that the Iranians would have produced a nuclear warhead for the Sejil-2 in the timeframe he cited. But Israeli officials have claimed that Tehran could produce a nuclear warhead within a year once Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, gives the go-ahead.

In May, 12 prominent U.S. and Russian analysts gave a different view in a report issued by the EastWest Institute, a New York-based think tank that monitors global security issues.

The report said it would take Iran six to eight years to develop a ballistic missile with a 460-pound conventional warhead and a range of 1,250 miles, and six years to develop a nuclear warhead.

The U.S. Air Force's National Air and Space Intelligence Center said in a June report that Iran, even with help from foreign sources, would need six years to produce an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States.

"Based on its demonstrated achievement in solid propulsion and staging, Iran will face no technological challenges" in doubling the Sejil's range with a 1-ton warhead, Rubin told the Huntsville conference.

"If they push it -- put all the budget, put all the engineers -- three or four years" is all it would take to give the Sejil a range of around 2,500 miles, enough to hit London. "Will they do it? I'm not sure."

But he noted that the predictions about Iran's ever-growing missile reach "are coming true, perhaps sooner than anyone thought. Â… I think there was an underestimation of Iranian capability."

Rubin's conclusions would appear to inject a new urgency in U.S. efforts to install a fixed missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic to protect the United States, a proposal that has drawn vehement objections from Moscow.

In that regard, on Aug. 20 the Boeing Co. came up with a novel system that may overcome Russian opposition to U.S. missile installations on its doorstep: 10 47,500-pound mobile interceptors that could be airlifted in giant Boeing C-17 transports to temporary launch sites and then flown back to the United States when no longer required.

Russian S-300 sale to Iran

2009-08-22T10:04:00.000-07:00

Top US lawmaker blasts UN over Iran nuclear drive
A senior US lawmaker charged Wednesday that the UN nuclear watchdog agency may be hiding evidence of Iran's alleged quest for atomic weapons and called for the information to be made public. "Instead of preventing nuclear proliferation, it appears that an increasingly politicized IAEA may be concealing evidence of just that by the Iranian regime," said Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "The IAEA must immediately release all evidence of Iran's nuclear activities," she said in a statement, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency. The Florida lawmaker was responding to a report in Israel's Haaretz newspaper that Israel was accusing the UN nuclear weapons watchdog of holding back incriminating evidence of Iran's drive to obtain nuclear weapons. The daily cited unnamed Israeli officials as saying the IAEA was refraining from publishing data obtained in recent months that indicates Iran was pursuing information about weaponization efforts and a military nuclear program. IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, who is to vacate his post in December, has said the UN watchdog does not have any evidence to back US and Israeli charges that Iran is developing a nuclear weapons program. But Haaretz cited officials as saying the new evidence was presented to the IAEA in a classified annex written by its inspectors and said to have been signed by the head of the inspection team in Iran. The document was not included in the final report, it said. British, French, German and US senior officials have recently pressured ElBaradei to publish the information, the newspaper said.

Russia pledges review of air defence sale to Iran: Peres
President Dmitry Medvedev has promised to review Russia's controversial planned sale of its sophisticated S-300 air defence system to Iran, his Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres said Wednesday. "President Medvedev promised to review this issue once again after I explained that it would have an impact on the balance of force in our region," Peres said a day after he held talks with the Russian leader. The contract for the S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems is reported to have been signed back in 2005 but has proved hugely contentious as the weapons would significantly upgrade Iranian air defence capabilities. The United States has never ruled out the option of an air strike against Iranian nuclear facilities to punish Tehran for its defiance in the nuclear standoff. Russian officials have emphasized over the last months that none of the S-300 systems have been delivered to Tehran and have never given any indication of when the contract might be fulfilled. Medvedev's promise of a review of the S-300 sale comes amid continued US and Israeli concern about Russian ties with Tehran at a time of mounting tensions over its atomic drive. Russia is building Iran's first nuclear power station in the southern city of Bushehr and maintains relatively friendly diplomatic ties with the Islamic Republic. But Peres said that Medvedev had also promised him that Russia would do "everything to prevent Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon. I can say that the positions of Russia and Israel on this question have come closer," he was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies. (AFP Report)

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's reported promise to Israeli President Shimon Peres that Moscow will reconsider the sale of powerful S-300 air-defense missiles to Iran could determine whether Israel - and the United States for that matter - launches pre-emptive strikes against Tehran's nuclear facilities.
"President Medvedev promised to review this issue once again after I explained that it would have an impact on the balance of forces in our region," Peres said Wednesday following his meeting with the Russian leader in Moscow on Tuesday.

Israel has been threatening to attack Iran's controversial nuclear program for many months because the Jewish state considers Tehran's acquisition of nuclear weapons to be an existential threat.

Any Israeli offensive would undoubtedly involve air and missile strikes. At present, the Israeli air force's prospects of penetrating Iran's air defenses, including Russian-supplied M-1 Tor close-range surface-to-air missiles, are reasonably good.

But the Israelis' capabilities would be immeasurably reduced if Tehran got its hands on an advanced air-defense weapon like the S-300.

Russia says it has not delivered any the missiles to Iran yet, but it may yet do so to up the ante in its growing confrontation with the United States.

Medvedev's pledge may be little more than a tactic to force the Israelis to stop providing arms and intelligence to Georgia, Azerbaijan and other former Soviet republics that are defying Moscow.

U.S.-based security consultancy Strategic Forecasting noted in July: "The Americans realize that if they arm Russia's adversary, Moscow will respond by arming U.S. adversaries - particularly Iran.

"Russia has deals in place under which it would deliver strategic air-defense systems and other arms to Iran and complete Iran's nuclear facility at Bushehr - all things it has notably declined to do for years now.

"Moscow has been holding onto this card to ensure that the United States does not fulfill its own commitments to Georgia."

So the Israelis believe that their window of opportunity to attack Iran under optimum conditions may be limited and that it should go after the Islamic republic's nuclear centers before any Russian S-300s are delivered despite pressure from Washington not to act unilaterally and risk triggering a regional war with possibly calamitous consequences.

At the very least, the Iranians would be expected to retaliate against an Israeli attack by firing salvoes of Shehab-3 intermediate-range ballistic missiles with conventional high-explosive warheads at the Jewish state.

Israel does not have the power to knock out enough of the heavily guarded and widely nuclear facilities, most of them buried deep underground, to permanently cripple Iran's nuclear program.

But with the Israelis claiming Iran has accelerated its missile production and that Tehran could fashion a nuclear warhead within a year, Israeli strategists appear to be inclined to strike while they can to set back Iran's nuclear ambitions.

"With the rise of Binyamin Netanyahu to power in Israel and his appointment of Avigdor Lieberman as his foreign minister, Israel has been behaving in provocative ways that betray a burning desire to strike Iran as soon as possible," Egypt's Al Ahram weekly said in July.

The Israelis have conducted several long-range airstrikes over the years, but never simultaneously against such a plethora of targets spread across a country 900 miles away.

The Israeli air force simply does not have the capability of targeting all of Iran's nuclear targets in a single raid.

Any attack on Iran would be immensely more complicated than the landmark long-range airstrike that knocked out Saddam Hussein's French-built Osirak reactor near Baghdad - far closer to Israel than Iran - in June 1981.

Analyst Reuven Pedatzur wrote in Israeli daily Haaretz in May that the 1981 strike, ordered by Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, marked the start of "the Begin Doctrine Â… which holds that Israel will not let any hostile country in the region acquire nuclear weapons."

But Pedatzur acknowledged: "The problem is that what could be accomplished in Iraq more than two decades ago is no longer possible today under the present circumstances in Iran."

The S-300V system (NATO codename SA-12 Giant) can engage multiple targets simultaneously and shoot down aircraft and missiles at a range of around 100 miles.

The system is so sophisticated and tamper-proof that air force planners calculate that 20 percent to 30 percent of the aircraft deployed would be lost.

According to the Israeli media, a minimum of 90 aircraft would be required to attack three key nuclear sites - all 25 of the U.S.-built F-15I strike jets in the air force's inventory and at least 65 of its 135 F-16s, about one-quarter of the air force's strength.

Israel, which has the most advanced ballistic missile programs in the Middle East, also possesses an arsenal of road-mobile Jericho 1, 2 and 3 missiles capable of hitting Iranian targets.

The three-stage Jericho 3 is believed to be able to carry a multi-megaton nuclear warhead, or a conventional warhead of 1,000-1,200 kilograms.

However, Pedatzur noted, "It is doubtful the Jerichos' accuracy can be relied on, and that all of them will hit those critical spots with precision."

Chavez warns of 'war' over Colombia-US deal

2009-08-11T07:29:00.000-07:00

Chavez has led a diplomatic offensive against the Colombia-US agreement in recent weeks, saying he feared the move amounted to preparations for an invasion of his country by a "Yankee military force."

Leftist leaders from Venezuela and Ecuador thundered against a US military presence in Latin America on Monday, warning the "winds of war" were blowing across the increasingly polarized continent.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez led the charge, attacking Colombia's decision to host American forces at seven of its bases, a move also condemned by Chavez's Ecuadoran counterpart and ally Rafael Correa during the inauguration of his second term.

Speaking in Quito at a regional summit, Chavez said he was fulfilling his "moral duty" by telling fellow leaders that the "winds of war were beginning to blow," because of the July accord between Bogota and Washington.

"This could generate a war in South America," he told the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) meet in the Ecuadoran capital.

The heightened rhetoric came a day after Chavez accused Colombia's leader Alvaro Uribe and the Colombian military of "provocations" by entering Venezuelan territory.

Colombia's foreign ministry denied the charge.

Moderate Latin American countries, led by Brazil and Argentina, agreed in Quito to hold a summit, probably in Argentina later this month, to discuss the deal that has angered many in the region.

They said Uribe, America's main ally in the region, would be invited to explain his case. The Colombian leader was not present at the UNASUR gathering because of ongoing tensions with Correa.

Colombia raised concern throughout the region, which has a troubled history of US military interventions, when it announced a deal on July 15 to allow American forces to coordinate anti-drug operations from seven of its military bases.

"I hope the installation of these bases... does not strengthen the warmongering policies of the (Colombian) government and the fight, not against drug trafficking, but against the insurgent governments of our America," Correa said in his inaugural address.

Ecuador recently refused to renew an agreement with Washington that saw the US military installed at the Manta Air Base on Ecuador's Pacific coast.

Chavez has led a diplomatic offensive against the Colombia-US agreement in recent weeks, saying he feared the move amounted to preparations for an invasion of his country by a "Yankee military force."

Colombia and the United States have insisted the bases are meant only to expand the US fight against drug trafficking in Colombia.

"The Yankees are starting to command the Colombian armed forces; they are the ones who are in charge, who are in charge of these provocations, who make up huge lies," Chavez has charged.

On Sunday he stepped up his accusation against Uribe, accusing the Colombian military of having entered Venezuelan territory, although he didn't specify when.

"We are not talking about a patrol with a few soldiers that strayed over a border" into Venezuela, Chavez said during his television show "Hello President."

"These troops crossed the Orinoco River in a boat and carried out an incursion into Venezuelan territory. When our troops got there, the Colombians had already gone away," he said.

In Bogota, the Colombian Foreign Ministry said the military had checked with the units in charge of guarding the border along the river in the provinces of Vichada and Guainia and that the Venezuelan accusations "are not true."

The new charges follow last month's decision by Chavez to freeze relations with Colombia in response to accusations leveled by Bogota that Venezuela was supplying weapons to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a leftist guerrilla group.

Ecuador, an ally of Venezuela's, is also wary of the bases announcement. It cut off relations with Bogota after Colombia's military staged a cross-border raid into its territory in March last year to destroy a rebel camp.

Both Venezuela and Ecuador nearly went to war with Colombia over the incursion, although Raul Reyes, one of the most senior FARC leaders, was killed in the attack.

Colombian soldiers that entered the camp also recovered computer hard drives and flash drives with data they say links Chavez to both the leftist guerrillas and the illegal drug trade.

US strike on Iran 'feasible and credible': retired general

2009-08-09T04:48:00.001-07:00

Iran bomb-grade uranium not expected before 2013: State Dept
The State Department's intelligence bureau has concluded that Iran will not be technically capable of producing weapons grade uranium for nuclear weapons before 2013, the US intelligence director has told Congress. The assessment by the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research was included in written responses to questions submitted to Congress by the Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair. Even though Iran has made significant progress in enriching uranium, the State Department bureau "continues to assess it is unlikely that Iran will have the technical capability to produce HEU (highly enriched uranium) before 2013," Blair said. In his earlier testimony to Congress, Blair has said Iran could have enough highly enriched uranium for a bomb as early as 2010 or as late as 2015, and noted that INR believed it would not be before 2013 "because of foreseeable technical and programmatic problems." In the update, he said the judgement was based on an estimate of when Iran would have the functional ability to perform the enrichment rather than when it might make a political decision to produce HEU. The US intelligence community "has no evidence that Iran has yet made the decision to produce highly enriched uranium, and INR assesses that Iran is unlikely to make such a decision for at least as long as international pressure and scrutiny persist," the document said. "INR shares the Intelligence Community's assessment that Iran probably would use military-run covert facilities, rather than declared nuclear sites, to produce HEU. Outfitting a covert enrichment infrastructure could take years," the document said. The document, which was submitted in April, was released to the Federation of American Scientists in response to a freedom of information req
A devastating US military strike against Iran's nuclear and military facilities "is a technically feasible and credible option," a retired general asserted in an article published on Friday.
Retired air force general Charles Wald, a former deputy commander of US forces in Europe, said US policy makers must prepare for a "Plan B," including the military's role, should diplomacy fail.

"A peaceful resolution of the threat posed by Iran's nuclear ambitions would certainly be the best possible outcome," Wald wrote in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal.

"But should diplomacy and economic pressure fail, a US military strike against Iran is a technically feasible and credible option," he said.

Wald's views were in striking contrast with those of the Pentagon's top civilian and military leaders, who have warned repeatedly that military action against Iran would be highly destabilizing.

In a related development, the State Department's intelligence arm has concluded that Iran is unlikely to have the technical capability to produce highly enriched uranium for nuclear weapons before 2013, according to a newly released congressional document.

US intelligence chief Dennis Blair has said Iran could have the technical means to produce bomb-grade material as early as 2010, although there is no evidence it has made a political decision to do so.

President Barack Obama, meanwhile, has sought to engage Iran diplomatically, but prospects of a breakthrough have been clouded by political turmoil in Iran over President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad's disputed re-election.

"Many policy makers and journalists dismiss the military option on the basis of a false sense of futility," Wald wrote.

"They assume that the US military is already overstretched, that we lack adequate intelligence about the location of covert nuclear sites, and that known sites are too heavily fortified," he said.

"Such assumptions are false," he said.

Wald argued that serious military preparations for a strike could in themselves help persuade Iran to end its nuclear defiance "without firing a single shot."

Pressure could be applied by deploying additional aircraft carrier battle groups and minesweepers to waters off Iran and conducting military exercises with allies, he said.

If that failed, he said, the US Navy could blockade Iran's Gulf ports, cutting off gasoline imports that constitute a third the country's domestic consumption.

"Should these measures not compel Tehran to reverse course on its nuclear program, and only after all other diplomatic avenues and economic pressures have been exhausted, the US military is capable of launching a devastating attack on Iranian nuclear and military facilities," he wrote.

Wald acknowledged there were "huge risks to military action," including that Iranians would rally around "an unstable and oppressive regime" and that reprisals and regional unrest would follow.

"Furthermore, while a successful bombing campaign would set back Iranian nuclear development, Iran would undoubtedly retain its nuclear know how," he said.

"But the risks of military action must be weighed against those of doing nothing," he said.

Chavez to buy Russian tanks over U.S. troop buildup in Colombia

2009-08-05T23:34:00.000-07:00

Hugo Chavez says Venezuela ready for war with Colombia
Sechin visits Nicaragua for energy, trade talks after Venezuela

- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said at a press conference the country plans to buy weapons and Russian tanks over a possible increase in U.S. military personnel in neighboring Colombia.

Chavez urged U.S. President Barack Obama not to increase the country's military contingent at bases in Colombia and said the move could lead to a war in the region.

"These bases [in Colombia] could become the beginning of a war in South America," Chavez said.

The United States and Colombia are currently holding talks which could see a boost in U.S. troop numbers at Colombian bases as part of a 10-year deal to help the country tackle its drug trafficking and terrorist problem. The U.S. would invest some $5 billion in the South American country's economy.

Venezuela has already spent around $4 billion on Russian arms, including helicopters, fighter planes, and Kalashnikov assault rifles since 2005.

"We plan to buy several battalions of Russian tanks," Chavez said during Wednesday's press conference.

Colombia is the only country on the continent where a powerful guerilla group - the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) - controls a large portion of territory. In the past, it controlled nearly two-thirds of Colombia, but its influence has dwindled by half. Despite its rhetoric, the organization has nothing in common with Che Guevara or Marxism, and is mainly involved in drug trafficking and kidnapping.

Relations between Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela have been tense since Colombian troops attacked a FARC camp in Ecuador last year. As many as 24 guerrillas, including a senior commander of the FARC, were killed in the raid.

Colombian leader to explain US bases to Brazil

2009-08-04T23:20:00.001-07:00

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe is to fly to Brazil this week to explain his decision to open three military bases to the United States, an aide to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told AFP on Monday.
The visit follows demands from Brazil and other South American nations for the United States to justify the agreement with Colombia.

Several capitals in the region fear it could ignite long-simmering tensions, especially between Colombia and Venezuela.

The Brazilian official said Uribe would travel on Thursday to speak with Lula. The two had a telephone conversation early Monday, he said.

The trip would give Uribe and Lula a chance to talk over several issues, given that Uribe would not attend a meeting of the Union of South American Nations in Ecuador on Monday next week, the official said.

Separately, the US National Security Council said in a statement that US President Barack Obama's national security adviser, retired general Jim Jones, would visit Brazil on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss "a range of issues of mutual concern."

The topics included "defense relations," the statement said, as well as the global economic crisis and the situation in Honduras.

Colombia, the United States' biggest ally in South America, said last month three of its bases would be used and expanded by the US military as part of Washington's fight against drugs trafficking.

That announcement unnerved Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who said he feared the bases could be used for a "Yankee military force" to invade his country.

Venezuela's ties with neighboring Colombia have again entered rocky territory following Bogota's accusations that Chavez supplied Colombian rebels with arms. Chavez has withdrawn his ambassador to Bogota over the claims.

Ecuador, an ally of Venezuela's, is also wary of the bases announcement. It cut off relations with Bogota after Colombia's military staged a cross-border raid into its territory in March last year to destroy a rebel camp.

Both Venezuela and Ecuador nearly went to war with Colombia over the incursion.

Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim told Sunday's edition of the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper that the US bases in Colombia were of concern.

"What worries Brazil is a strong military presence whose aim and capability seems to go well beyond what might be needed inside Colombia," he said.

He said Brasilia was asking for explanations from Washington.

Lula last week said "I'm not happy with the idea of another US base in Colombia."

Chile and Spain have also expressed unease.